The viability of sewage services for small communities and the urban fringe is a key challenge facing Australian utilities – often existing municipal sewage infrastructure is too far away or at capacity. Additionally, the cost to provide a small standalone municipal type Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) to service a small population is restrictive.
True Water specialise in designing and installing high-quality, small-scale, treatment plants to service small communities, satellite communities, and the urban fringe (500-5000Ep). True Water’s decentralised and semi-decentralised technologies provide utilities a long term infrastructure solution that is profitable, simple to manage and secures compliance.
Dr Stefan Holler, Water & Wastewater International said, “Currently, the management of sustainable infrastructure is one of the most pressing global issues as urban centres continue to expand. “Ensuring basic human services, such as water supply and wastewater treatment, is one of many challenges faced by researchers and managers in the 21st century.”
Booming urban development stretching resources
Development in coastal and regional areas throughout Australia has placed pressure on traditional sewage servicing methods; with government, and utilities, often seeking a change in approach to meet regional demand. The challenge arises when finding a solution for smaller regional communities or new developments on the urban fringe. Septic and aerated systems are crude and the poor-quality effluent they produce poses a high risk to public health and the environment.
A large municipal plant is often the most effective and economical way to deal with wastewater in a large town or city. Likewise, a simple septic or aerated system has been sufficient for managing wastewater in low density rural settings. However, if you try to scale either method to a suitable size for a small community, you quickly run into problems.
Many existing regional STPs servicing small towns operate at a high cost per head of population and would be not viable without subsidisation. The scale, complexity, and maintenance requirements of municipal scale STPs present critical challenges to smaller communities.
These older models for sewage services are not cost effective or sustainable for small-to-medium sized communities. Sustainable options must combine reliable technology with economic feasibility.
A decentralised Class A+ Sewage Treatment Plant servicing a 2000Ep community.
Finding the right stp for your community
Thanks to recent technology developments, leading global manufacturers offer small-to-medium scale STPs that address all economic and operational requirements. This has made the implementation of decentralised or semi decentralised services a suitable solution.
Decentralisation and semi decentralisation involves the collection and treatment of wastewater within small catchments. Where in the past cost per capita was too high, modern technology allows high-quality treatment without complex treatment plants.
The treatment processes involve very few moving parts and minimal chemical dosing, reducing the operational and management costs, and removing daily or weekly site management. Key objectives include economic viability, scalability to meet future need, proven technology, and securing compliance.
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