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Melbourne Water

Melbourne's water
storages are currently

34.5%

Eastern Treatment Plant

Quick Facts

  • Treats about 40% of Melbourne's sewage
  • Built in 1975
  • Sits on 1,100 hectares
  • Generates its own electricity (biogas)
  • Supplied 21 billion litres of recycled water in 08/09
  • Major upgrade planned by end-2012
About the plant

The Eastern Treatment Plant in Bangholme treats sewage from about 1.5 million people in Melbourne's south-eastern and eastern suburbs.

About 92% of the sewage that flows into the Eastern Treatment Plant is from homes and businesses. The remaining 8% is from industry.

Sewage is treated and disinfected. Some of it is used as recycled water by local customers. The rest is discharged into Bass Strait at the South Eastern Outfall at Boags Rocks on the Mornington Peninsula.

The Eastern Treatment Plant treats about 40% of Melbourne's sewage and the Western Treatment Plant (in Werribee) treats about 52%. The rest is treated by smaller plants operated by local water retailers.

How it works
Aerial shot of the Eastern Treatment Plant

Sewage at the Eastern Treatment Plant is treated to secondary standard then disinfected, according to EPA Victoria's licence requirements.

See also:

Water recycling

Melbourne recycles more water (65.5 billion litres in 08/09) for non-drinking purposes than any other major city in Australia.

About 21 billion litres of recycled water from the Eastern Treatment Plant is used onsite and by nearby customers each year.

Water from the plant is currently treated to 'Class C' standard. This means it is suitable for a limited range of uses.

The planned upgrade of the plant will produce high quality fit-for-purpose recycled water (sometimes called 'Class A') from end-2012. This water is suitable for a broader range of uses, such as:

  • residential applications, including toilet flushing, garden watering, and car washing
  • growing crops that are eaten raw
  • fire fighting

See also:

Reducing impacts on the marine environment

Melbourne Water is reducing the impact of treated effluent discharged from the Eastern Treatment Plant into Bass Strait by improving the quality of treated effluent discharged at Boags Rocks.

Scientific studies show that the main impacts of this discharge on the marine environment are caused by ammonia in the treated effluent.

To improve the marine environment we have:

  • Upgraded our secondary treatment process to reduce the ammonia levels in the treated effluent, including increasing aeration tank capacity by two thirds. Scientific studies show that ammonia was having an impact on the marine environment.
  • Received approval from EPA Victoria for a major upgrade to the plant, which will be operational by end-2012. By investing in advanced tertiary treatment technology. The upgrade will reduce the suspended solids, colour, odour, and foam in treated effluent discharged into the ocean, as well as further reduce ammonia. The upgrade will also provide very high levels of treated water disinfection which will further reduce the health risk to recreational users of the marine environment under all flow conditions.
  • Worked with South East Wateras they upgrade parts of their Mount Martha, Boneo and Somers plants to improve the quality of treated effluent from those plants which also discharge at Boags Rocks.

As new uses for recycled water come online, the amount discharged into the ocean will also reduce.

Fact Sheets