Historic day for Shire's water quality

Two Water Treatment Plants will be established to protect our Shire’s water quality into the future thanks to unprecedented NSW Government funding under the Restart NSW Fund.

The NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, were joined by a delighted Bega Valley Shire Council Mayor, Cr Kristy McBain, in making the momentous $25 million announcement today.

The funding comes through the Safe and Secure Water Program; a program that is designed to assist Council’s to deliver economic growth in regional NSW through improvements to water security.

Cr McBain said this is fantastic news for our community, particularly those residents drawing from the Brogo/Bermagui and Bega/Tathra water supplies, where there have been long running problems.

“Council has always treated the integrity and safety of our water supplies very seriously and the establishment of Water Treatment Plants has been an absolute priority,” Cr McBain said.

“Thanks to the NSW Government; in particular the Premier (Gladys Berejiklian); Minister Blair (Niall Blair – the Minister for Primary Industries, Regional Water, Trade and Industry) and the Member for Bega (Andrew Constance) these vital projects will now become a reality.

“I’d also like to thank the NSW Regional Infrastructure Coordinator, Ken Gillespie, for his assistance and support for our bid, and the enormous amount of work done by Council staff,” Cr McBain said.

Council’s Manager Water and Sewerage Services, Jim Collins, said that once they are operational the Water Treatment Plants will improve the consistency and quality of the water supplied.

“While it is important to remember that our water supplies continue to meet Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, the establishment of the treatment plants will provide additional critical control points and multi-barriers to water quality hazards and greatly reduce the reliance on treatments such as chlorine,” Mr Collins said.

“The collective patience and understanding of the pubic as we worked towards securing long-term solutions to the challenges we have faced has been appreciated and we are very much looking forward to delivering these game-changing projects for our community.

“This really is an historic day for water quality in our Shire, however it is important to note that the process will still take time,” Mr Collins said.   

Photograph: Brogo stepped rock weir – the source of water for the Brogo-Bermagui scheme.