The Altona Treatment Plant of

City West Water City West Water Corporation was a Government of Victoria retail water corporation that provided drinking water, sewerage, trade waste and recycled water services in the Melbourne central business district, inner and western suburbs. The service ...

is a small

sewage treatment Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding envir ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

Altona, Victoria Altona is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Altona recorded a population of 11,490 at the . Altona is a large suburb c ...

, approximately 16 km west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. Located on Queen Street between Laverton Creek and

Altona Meadows Altona Meadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Altona Meadows recorded a population of 18,479 at the . Located p ...

, it services over 20,000 residential and business properties in the Altona, Altona Meadows, Laverton and

Point Cook Point Cook is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Point Cook recorded a population of 66,781 at the 2021 census. Point Cook ...

areas and treats close to 13 million litres of sewage a day.

Background

The original Altona Sewage Treatment Plant was constructed in the 1960s to provide sewage treatment services to the Altona area. The plant was originally constructed as a temporary facility until the

Western Treatment Plant The Western Treatment Plant (formerly the Metropolitan Sewage Farm or, more commonly, the Werribee Sewage Farm) is a sewage treatment plant in Cocoroc, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's central business district, on the coast of Port Ph ...

was able to cope with the increasing volumes of

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

in the area.http://www.citywestwater.com.au "Altona Treatment Plant information sheet." Accessed 10 July 2012. When

was established in 1995 a review of the entire City West Water network, including the Altona Sewage Treatment Plant, was undertaken. This review confirmed that there was a long-term requirement for the plant.

Current status

In early 2011, the Altona Treatment Plant was upgraded to a more sophisticated

recycled water Water reclamation (also called wastewater reuse, water reuse or water recycling) is the process of converting Sewage, municipal wastewater (sewage) or Industrial wastewater treatment, industrial wastewater into water that can be reused for a vari ...

treatment facility. Instead of releasing millions of litres of treated

effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pollut ...

into

Port Phillip Bay Port Phillip (Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is completel ...

, most of the water is now captured, treated and then used in

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

processes and the

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

of recreational spaces for the community. About 2 billion litres of recycled water is supplied annually to the

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their Plasticity (physics), plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be Injection moulding, moulded, Extrusion, e ...

manufacturer Qenos for use in their

boilers A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

and

cooling towers A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and ...

, as well as: * 300 million litres to Sanctuary Lakes Golf Club to irrigate its

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

* 200 million litres to Kooringal Golf Club to irrigate its golf course * 5 million litres to

Hobsons Bay City Council The City of Hobsons Bay is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the south-western suburbs between 6 and 20 km from the Melbourne city centre. It was founded on 22 June 1994 during the amalgamation of l ...

to irrigate Altona Green Park and 6 million litres for HD Graham Reserve. Water will also be used for urban streetscape watering and dust suppression. The volume of high quality water produced each year is roughly equivalent to the volume of water held by 1000 Olympic sized swimming pools. A giant robot is being used to clean the Balance Tank every year since 2019.

External links

City West Water - Altona Treatment Plant

References

{{WaterVictoria , state=expanded Altona Treatment Plant Altona Treatment Plant Industrial buildings in Victoria (state) Sewerage infrastructure in Victoria (state) Buildings and structures in the City of Hobsons Bay

Background

Current status

External links

See also

References