Melbourne Water is injecting millions into a treatment plant upgrade. 

The authority is updating the Western Treatment Plant, transforming it into a facility to help reduce greenhouse emissions and cater to Melbourne’s growing sewerage needs.  

The $711 million Resource Recovery and Re-Use Complex will enhance the resilience of the sewerage system, advance resource recovery and assist in Melbourne Water’s path to net zero, by improving the site’s solids treatment process. 

“The Resource Recovery and Re-Use Complex is a major milestone in the transformation of the Western Treatment Plant and will enable rapid evolution of the site to meet the needs of the next decade and beyond,” says Melbourne Water Managing Director Dr Nerina Di Lorenzo.

“The transition to environmentally sustainable sewage treatment will deliver reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, help us to produce more renewable energy, and is a step change in our resource recovery ability at the Western Treatment Plant, supporting Victoria’s Circular Economy.” 

Modernising the way Melbourne Water treats incoming sewage, and returning the existing lagoon-based assets at the plant to a more sustainable mode of operation, the Resource Recovery and Re-Use Complex consists of four projects that will introduce: 

  • New preliminary and primary treatment processes to divert raw sewage away from the overloaded anaerobic lagoons, reducing the frequency of odour intensive maintenance works 

  • Improved solids handling and anaerobic digestion processes to divert sludge away from the overloaded aerated ponds, capturing carbon and improving safety 

  • A new receiving facility to receive and treat Tankered Waste from customers to manage the risk to the environment and fulfil Melbourne Water’s obligations under the Environmental Protection Act 

  • A new liquid food waste facility to receive waste from industrial customers for co-digestion, which will generate renewable energy 

The project will improve the treatment capacity of the Western Treatment Plant, which treats over 60 per cent of Melbourne’s sewage. 

Currently managing 200 billion litres of sewage a year, capacity will be increased by almost 50 per cent, ensuring Melbourne Water continues to service Melbourne – a city projected to double in population by 2050. 

As well as improving delivery efficiency, the bundling of the four projects has aided technical innovation, sustainably modernising the way incoming sewage is treated, it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and better integrate liquid food waste, and enhances the site’s methane gas production to create renewable energy.  

The Western Treatment Plant Resource Recovery and Re-Use Complex - which is a joint partnership initiative between Melbourne Water and John Holland Group - is expected to take three years to complete and will be fully operational in 2029.