Plan to safeguard reef
Burdekin will become home to wastewater treatment plant with world-first technology which will help protect the Great Barrier Reef from being damaged by harmful nutrients.
The Queensland Government has announced $2m funding for earthworks to build the Regenaqua macroalgal facility at the site of Burdekin Council’s Ayr-braddon treatment plant.
The technology, developed by biotechnology company Pacific Bio, uses green algae to treat wastewater and remove nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen from entering waterways.
Pacific Bio chief executive Sam Bastounas said the plant would be the first of its kind worldwide, and its Regenaqua technology would “provide a bioremediation solution for urban tertiary wastewater treatment”.
“Regenaqua is a low cost, zero-carbon solution that captures harmful nutrients and turns them into high crop yielding biostimulants via a Pacific Bio product called Plantjuice,” Mr Bastounas said.
“There is so much scope for Regenaqua. The technology is already being used to reduce nutrients from onshore aquaculture but it can also be used to mop up excess fertiliser runoff from farming and run-off from abattoirs.”
Burdekin Council mayor Lyn Mclaughlin said the project would “revolutionise the treatment of wastewater for all smaller coastal councils”.
“The facility is not only significantly cheaper to both construct and maintain than a tertiary wastewater treatment plant, but by removing potentially harmful nutrients … the facility will reduce human impact on the Great Barrier Reef and provide a scalable template which can be constructed in other areas not only in Queensland, but around the world,” Cr Mclaughlin said.
“The Burdekin Shire is a hub of innovation, and we are incredibly proud to be home to the first full-scale Regenaqua facility in partnership with Pacific Bio and James Cook University.”
Regenaqua general manager Kevin Patrick said he was excited the government and the council was backing its infrastructure, which he said would provide significant economic and environmental benefits.
“Where traditional tertiary wastewater treatment facilities were estimated at more than $40 million, Regenaqua’s Macro-algal Bioremediation facility comes in at $8.3 million and our technology advances mean it is notably cheaper to operate and maintain in the long term,” Mr Patrick said.
“We are excited and thankful of the government support in this groundbreaking, natural, and carbon-free solution.”