Work which council says will “significantly improve sewage management in the North Bega area and reduce the risk to drinking water supplies posed by current sewage disposal and effluent reuse arrangements” is to start this financial year.
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Council has awarded R D Miller a $2.128 million contract for the North Bega sewer pumping station and mains.
The works are being funded by $990,000 under Round Two of the government’s National Stronger Regions Fund awarded in December 2015 and $956,000 from Bega Cheese, who will benefit from the new facility.
Council has entered into an agreement with Bega Cheese which will assist the company to better manage sewage from their facilities in North Bega, council said.
“The proposed sewage pumping station and mains are critical infrastructure for the sewer system in North Bega which will enable immediate connection by Bega Cheese and later connection by domestic and other industrial customers in the locality,” council said.
The facilities are understood to be required as part of Bega Cheese’s D90 whey plant processing. Extracting D90 from milk requires a washing process and the waste water from this process can contain high mineral levels and needs to be treated.
A review of environmental factors concluded the proposal is unlikely to cause significant environmental impact, provided the site specific environmental safeguards identified in the review are implemented.
Council’s water and sewerage services manager Jim Collins said that there were no current sewage treatment facilities at North Bega and Bega Cheese had approached council to facilitate the development of plans to better manage sewage disposal in the area.
Construction will include: a transfer main from the existing Bega Cheese sewage treatment plant and the administration building on Ridge Street, a conventional wet well sewage pumping station adjacent to the Bega Cheese Heritage Centre on Lagoon Street and a 4km rising main to transfer sewage to the existing Bega STP at Taronga Crescent.
