North East Water is committed to providing you with high quality water and sewer services.

The wastewater treatment plant in Bright needs to be upgraded to improve its performance and consistently meet our operating licence conditions. It is therefore necessary to implement a new system to improve the quality of the treated water from the plant and how it is returned to the environment.

Sewage from the Bright and Porepunkah townships is currently treated in a lagoon-based wastewater treatment plant. Treated effluent from the plant is discharged to either an infiltration basin that indirectly flows to the Ovens River via groundwater or is reused at the nearby golf club. Significant population growth has led to increased flows to the plant which places a strain on the capacity of the system.

In discussions with the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), North East Water has agreed that the method of discharge to groundwater via the infiltration basin does not meet contemporary standards. A new discharge arrangement is therefore required. We are currently reviewing what discharge arrangement is required, where this will be located, and what treatment plant upgrades will be required.

The Bright Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade will service Bright and Porepunkah. The project will be delivered as part of NEW’s capital works program which is funded by NEW’s revenue streams which includes all customer usage and services charges and developer contributions.

North East Water continues to be keen to explore opportunities for recycled water use and commissioned a study in 2023 to look into this further. The outcome was that while there was a modest level of interest from potential recycled water users, it was unlikely that we will be able to solely rely on recycled water users to take all of the treated water including during cooler months when inflows into the treatment plant tend to be much higher and there is less irrigation demand. We did look into whether we could store treated water during winter for summer irrigation however the size of the storage required would be impractically large.

Yes. In consultation with the EPA, North East Water is planning to transition away from releasing treated water to the Ovens River via a gravel infiltration bed and instead establish a more conventional method of releasing to surface water that meets contemporary standards and can be readily monitored.

This is a very common approach for returning treated water to the environment in Victoria and water authorities are required to have licenses with the EPA for various water quality parameters which must be demonstrated to have been met to ensure that there is no adverse environmental impact.

North East Water is currently conducting an Ecological Risk Assessment to better understand any potential risks to the environment and beneficial uses at several potential locations along the Ovens River. This activity has involved consultation with key stakeholders including the EPA, North East Catchment Management Authority, Alpine Shire Council and Goulburn Murray Water.

Major benefits include:

• improved plant performance leading to better environmental outcomes.
• potential for additional use of recycled water.
• increased plant capacity to service town growth.

At this stage we are investigating several options on where the treated wastewater will be returned to the environment. We have investigated recycled water opportunities in and around Bright and Porepunkah (i.e. agriculture) however there is limited demand due to the lack of local interest.

At North East Water, we acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Lands and Waters on which we operate and value community consultation and inclusivity with all land users to inform our project decision-making.

We will be undertaking community consultation via a number of key activities.

• A survey is being circulated to community members who reside in Porepunkah and Bright to help us understand how you use and value the Ovens River and surrounding area. This is being promoted through social media. Take our survey here.
• A community information session was held in Porepunkah in December 2023 and in Bright April 2024. This will be a way for the community to discuss the project in more detail with North East Water and share feedback.
• Periodic updates as the project progresses

North East Water is committed to establishing an improved method of discharging from the Bright WWTP by 2026-27.