By Melissa Blewitt

Condobolin’s 79-year-old sewage treatment plant is facing a $30 million rebuild after Lachlan Shire councillors unanimously backed the next step towards replacing the ageing facility.

Councillors voted in favour of all eight recommendations relating to the Condobolin Sewage Treatment Plant at the August Ordinary Council meeting, endorsing a new concept design and backing moves to secure construction funding through the NSW Government’s Safe and Secure Water Program.

The proposed replacement carries an estimated construction cost of $30.025 million, with Council also committing to fund its share through a combination of Sewer Reserve funds and borrowings, subject to future budget and financial planning.

The scale of the challenge facing the existing plant is significant.

The original Condobolin sewage treatment plant was constructed in 1947 and later augmented in 1982. Its oldest components include an Imhoff tank, trickling filters and cold anaerobic digesters, while the Extended Aeration, or Pasveer Channel, was added in 1982.

The plant has also been assessed as having a major capacity shortfall, with its treatment capacity limited to about 1,715 equivalent persons (EP) against a current load of 3,729 EP. The facility has a history of Environment Protection Licence non-compliances and severe asset deficiencies.

Under the concept design, the proposed new facility would include a 4,500 EP IDEA reactor, along with new inlet works, screening and grit removal infrastructure and other treatment components.

The NSW Government has rated the existing plant at Risk Score 5, the highest possible rating under the Safe and Secure Water Program assessment.

The assessment identified concerns including regulatory action, treatment performance, load exceeding capacity and the age and condition of the facility.

The plant has recorded licence exceedances over the past decade for a range of measures, including suspended solids, faecal coliforms, pH, nitrogen, phosphorus and biochemical oxygen demand.

The business paper states these environmental concerns cannot be resolved through incremental improvements to the existing treatment process.

Council is now seeking to progress a Design and Construction Deed under the Safe and Secure Water Program, which could provide 75 per cent construction funding.

The business paper warns that securing the deed is important because funding could otherwise be allocated to another local water utility competing for the same program funding.

If the deed is executed, detailed design could begin immediately, with physical construction expected to commence in the 2027/28 financial year and continue into 2028/29.

The financial burden for Council and sewer customers remains a major consideration.

The August business paper records that Council is concerned about the affordability of the broader water and sewer investment program, with modelling indicating significant increases in typical residential bills even under scenarios involving substantial grant funding.

Lachlan Shire Council General Manager Ian Greenham said Council was continuing to work with State Government agencies on potential funding arrangements aimed at reducing the cost burden on residents in smaller western NSW communities.

“Lachlan Shire Council continues to work with State Government agencies on a Community Service Obligation funding scheme for water and sewer services that has been mooted for smaller communities in the west of the State that would potentially see subsidised capital and more importantly operational costs,” he explained.

“If successful this would see residents being charged no more for essential water and sewer services than their city cousins, subsidising the costs of operating essential water and sewer services in communities such as ours.”

Councillors nevertheless endorsed the concept design, committed to the ongoing operation and maintenance costs of the new plant and agreed to continue lobbying the NSW Government for additional funding to reduce the impact on sewer customers.

The project also includes an effluent reuse component, with Council continuing discussions with Condobolin Sports Club about future effluent supply to the golf course, regulatory requirements and ongoing operating costs.

For a community whose sewage treatment infrastructure dates back to the post-war era, the project represents one of the largest essential-services upgrades facing Condobolin – and one Council says cannot be deferred indefinitely.