The NuWater Project is an irrigation plan to pump recycled water from South East Queensland, improve Moreton Bay water quality for all South East Queenslanders and increase agricultural production across the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs.
The NuWater Project is an irrigation plan to pump recycled water from South East Queensland, improve Moreton Bay water quality for all South East Queenslanders and increase agricultural production across the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs.
The Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) on behalf of an unofficial consortium including QFF industry members Cotton Australia, Central Downs Irrigators Limited (CDIL), Growcom and the Queensland Chicken Meat Council (QCMC), Agforce, Lockyer Valley Growers, Lockyer Valley Regional Council (LVRC), Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE), Queensland Urban Utilities (QUU) and Seqwater, was successful in applying for funding under the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund to undertake a feasibility study to test the viability of using recycled water from the South-East Queensland Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme (WCRWS) and prepare a Preliminary Business Case.
The NuWater Project delivers a synergistic solution to the rising costs of treating wastewater prior to disposal in waterways and the Moreton Bay, and the constraints and lack of opportunities for agricultural and industrial growth in the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs.
This study was supported by funding from the Australian Government National Water Infrastructure Development Fund, an initiative of the Northern Australia and Agricultural Competitiveness White Papers.
International consulting firm GHD was engaged by the NuWater Consortium to investigate the feasibility of the NuWater Project and develop a Preliminary Business Case.
A broad range of potential options to deliver recycled water from Brisbane to the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs were identified.
All identified options delivered against the following objectives:
Ultimately, the option to use class B/C water with the use of the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme (WCRWS) pipeline, the construction of Healthwood pump station, new delivery pipeline and pump stations from Lowood to the top of the Toowoomba Range plus distribution networks to the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs agricultural areas was most favourable following economic, financial and commercial analysis.
If completed, the NuWater Project would:
The Preliminary Business Case identified some of the key future step-changes in current policy and technology that would be required to improve the economic viability of the project.