There are a couple of things that drive it, some is the population increase, some is the fact that the state government has increased the environmental requirements – they keep getting more stringent, council infrastructure director Wayne Cunningham said.
The state government has basically given us a deadline to have them finished by 2012.
The new Thabeban plant will lift the capacity from a population of 3000 to 9000.
Cunningham said that the majority of the money for the plants will come from ratepayers.
We make application to them (the state government) and normally they would, for a treatment plant upgrade, they normally provide 40 per cent of the cost, Cunningham said.
Council will probably have to borrow the majority of it and pay back those loans over 20 years.
Cunningham said that the exact impact on rates was hard to tell, because a whole lot of other things come into the equation.
It’s probably a decision council’s going to have to make down the track, just how they fund that, Cunningham said.
Council has voted last week to include the construction of the two plants in its forward program and the first stage would be planning, which could take 12 to 18 months.
The water and wastewater portfolio spokesman Alan Bush said Millbank and Thabeban were just the tip of the iceberg.
Those two treatment plants are in need of upgrading, but they’re not the only plants that need upgrading, Cr Bush said.
It’s just an ongoing project and when you are talking about sewerage and wastewater it’s all big money.
Bush said that the plants were currently running at capacity, and others were also being considered for work.
Between 35 and 40 per cent of council’s budget and workers are involved in water and wastewater.
