Have your say on recycled water use on the Fraser Coast
Fraser Coast residents are being encouraged to have their say on the use of recycled water.
Cr Paul Truscott said Fraser Coast Regional Council was updating its Recycled Water Strategy and wanted to know what was important to the community on the issue.
“Fraser Coast Regional Council is a national leader in maximising our recycled water use and, as a result, minimising the outflow of nutrients into the Great Sandy Straits,” he said.
“Our recycled water scheme, which has been in place for more than 25 years, routinely uses 90 to 100 per cent of the Fraser Coast’s treated wastewater for uses such as irrigation for sugar cane crops, golf courses, turf farms and sporting fields, to name a few examples.
“We also have the largest local government owned hardwood plantation scheme for recycled water reuse in Australia with about 526 hectares under drip irrigation.
“With the Fraser Coast’s population expected to grow significantly over the next 20 to 30 years, volumes of effluent will increase which can be recycled and managed in different ways.
“Over the next few months, Council will be putting together a position paper to inform the development of a Fraser Coast Recycled Water Strategy and we want to know the community’s values, how they would like to see the water used and where there is demand.
“We have established a dedicated project page on our Engagement Hub website - https://frasercoast.engagementhub.com.au/recycled-water-strategy - which includes a survey and the opportunity to make a submission.
“Targeted stakeholder sessions will also be held as part of the community engagement.
“We encourage everyone to take the opportunity to have their say with the survey open until Friday 16 October 2020.”
In addition to developing a Recycled Water Strategy, Council is also reviewing its biosolids strategy with more details available at https://frasercoast.engagementhub.com.au/biosolids-strategy
The preparation of the Recycled Water Strategy follows Council’s decision to approve a major upgrade of the Pulgul Sewage Treatment Plant over the next five years to cater for population growth on the Fraser Coast.