Lismore council seeks grant to repair flood damaged sewerage treatment plants

An expert arbitrator was brought in to mediate the dispute between Lismore council and a contractor – at $625 an hour.

Canal sewage contamination scare at Mooloolaba. Photo:Lachie Millard/ Sunshine coast Daily

A legal battle over work at the South Lismore Sewerage Treatment Plant (SLSTP) between Lismore City Council and a contractor has dried up after flood damage made it impossible to evaluate the situation.

Waste from the treatment plant is currently being disposed of across “sludge settling pools” instead of being removed from site, according to a council document, after the failure of a bin screw – which itself will cost $70,000 to repair.

The electrics for the plant have been found to be defective after water began to ingress from the transformer to the main switch room via the underground conduits and cable trench.

Sewage contamination of a river. File photo. Picture: Lachie Millard.

One council document suggested that it was not possible to “determine categorically” what the cause of the issue was.

An expert arbitrator was brought in to mediate the dispute between council and a contractor – at $625 an hour, “which amounted to several hundred thousand dollars”, internal documents reveal.

The contractor had “continually denied responsibility”, council staff claimed in the document.

“(The contractor) had counter claims in progress against Council for delay costs and alleging a different interpretation of the decision of the Expert,” the document read.

In the end both parties determined to discontinue their claims against one another.

Meanwhile, council has requested a state government grant of $108 million to repair both the South and East Lismore treatment plants.

The East Lismore plant infamously pumped raw sewage into surrounding waterways due to flood damage and is estimated to cost between $70 million and $80 million to repair, while works for the South Lismore plant are put at $20-25 million.

“For the East Lismore Sewerage Treatment plant, this may mean a relocation of the plant to higher ground. For the South Lismore STP, it may only require part of the existing plant to be relocated,” general manager John Walker said.

But councillor Vanessa Ekins was suspicious the investment in the treatment plants was to support an unrealised development on the Northern Plateau.

“Anyone who pays a water rate in Lismore is heavily subsidising that development and council borrowed heavily to enable that infrastructure to go in,” she said.

Ms Ekins said the South Lismore plant was upgraded specifically to meet the needs of the Northern Plateau development that would see the building of about 3500 lots.

“We won’t receive any return on that investment unless that development goes ahead and those people who buy those lots pay their contribution to council,” she said.

But Mr Walker said the old South Lismore plant was built 80 years ago and at the end of its life, and regardless of whether the North Lismore Plateau development proceeds, it had to be replaced.

“As part of the upgrade, additional capacity was provided in the new plant to cater for future development, not just at the North Lismore Plateau, but also in and around the CBD and further up towards Goonellabah through the Lismore Heights area,” Mr Walker said.

“All of these areas currently drain sewage to the South Lismore STP, including the medical precinct around the Lismore Base Hospital.”