Laratinga Wastewater Recovery Plant
The new Laratinga Water Recovery Plant (LWRP) will replace the existing Springs Road Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) with a modern wastewater treatment facility that has been designed with efficiency improvements in mind and the capacity to cater for existing customers and future growth. A major upgrade of the existing wastewater treatment plant on Springs Road, Mount Barker, is essential to support both current customers and future growth across the Mount Barker, Nairne, Brukunga and Littlehampton townships. As the region continues to expand, the existing lagoon-based treatment process will no longer be sufficient to manage anticipated increased inflows or consistently meet environmental water quality standards.
Council has a legal responsibility to provide wastewater services to existing customers, as well as to new customers where developers have entered into a wastewater commitment deed with Council. To fulfill these obligations, Council must maintain the appropriate licences and ensure full compliance with all regulatory conditions.
The LWRP, to be constructed within the existing Springs Rd site, will be based on an aerobic granular treatment sludge (AGS) process designed to achieve compliance with the Environment Protection (Water Quality) Policy 2015, conditions of EPA licence 1912 and all other legislative requirements. The LWRP will significantly improve the quality of the treated water discharged to the environment and will also have capacity for all treated water to be supplied to recycled water customers when demand matches supply.
The proposed upgrade will be delivered in several stages. Stage 1 comprises of a 6ML/day bioreactor plant, followed by an additional 3ML/day expansion (Stage 2a circa 2034) and future second 3ML/day expansion subject to housing growth with an ultimate capacity of 12ML/day capacity. The first 6ML/day plant is forecast for construction completion in 2026-27.
Funding for Stage 1 will be sourced through a combination of wastewater reserves and loans. The financial strategy will distinguish between costs related to asset renewal for existing customers and those associated with infrastructure expansion to accommodate new growth.
The requirements for the LWRP have been incorporated into Council’s Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP).