Who takes care of my wastewater?

Wastewater isn’t something a lot of us think about. Once we flush the toilet or put water down the drain we don’t often think about where it goes or what happens to it. So who does take care of Canberra’s wastewater? We do!

We manage and operate the ACT’s wastewater services, striving to provide consistently safe, efficient and reliable water and sewerage services.

The Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre (LMWQCC) is the ACT’s main wastewater treatment plant and proudly holds the title of the largest inland treatment centre in Australia. The storage dam can hold up to 147 million litres of wastewater – enough to fill 58 olympic swimming pools.

The plant is located alongside the Molonglo River, one kilometre upstream from the junction with the Murrumbidgee River. The process includes physical, chemical, and biological treatment processes before the water is safely discharged into the Molonglo River.

This massive system works around the clock 365 days a year, 24 hours a day to ensure that all Canberrans can have the luxury of not having to worry about what happens to their wastewater.
Our team leader of impact assessment and approvals, Ben Bryant, makes a good point when he says, “It’s something I think as Canberrans we take for granted every day.”

“There is a lot of work that goes into making sure that those standards are met, that we have certain qualities of drinking water, and that our sewage is taken away so that we don’t come in contact with it and get sick.”

Our sewerage network collects water from everyone’s house including water that people have flushed down toilets, put down kitchen sinks and also from industry and food outlets.
Processing Canberra’s wastewater is no small feat, every day the LMWQCC treats a massive 90 million litres of Canberra’s sewage!

Each day the plant also:
• Recycles an average of 10 million litres of wastewater
• Removes 4 to 5 million litres of sludge from the process
• Produces approximately 16 tonnes of Agri-Ash which is then used by farmers as fertilizer.

Not only does LMWQCC provide invaluable services to Canberra, but the treated water discharged from the plant into the Molonglo River plays an important role in providing benefits to the environment and downstream users.

As Canberra’s supplier of essential water and sewerage services, we recognise we have a key role in the lives of our community through the protection of public health and the environment.

We’re proud of our role and we’re proud that sustainability is at the heart of what we do.

For us, sustainability means:

• Enriching our neighbourhood

• Respecting resources

• Caring for tomorrow

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