Career opportunities | Emergency contacts
Home Council services Things to do About your council About Muswellbrook Shire Contact us

• State of the Environment Report 2010/2011 homepage
• Introduction
• Summary of Muswellbrook Shire
• Council's role
• Towards sustainability
• Human settlements
• Water resources
• Land
• Atmosphere
• Biodiversity

Discussion

The sustainable management of water resources throughout Australia has become a major focus for all populations and organisations. The issue of water supply to communities, industry and the environment has become an ever increasing challenge. The reliance on surface water resources has caused an increase in use of other water sources such as ground water and reuse water such as greywater.

Council provides water treatment and reticulated water supply services to the urban areas of Muswellbrook, Denman and Sandy Hollow and sewerage reticulation and treatment to the urban areas of Muswellbrook and Denman. The fully regulated Hunter River provides a highly reliable source for both Muswellbrook and Denman whilst Sandy Hollow relies on the Goulburn River. The Goulburn River water has very “hard” properties. Water described as “hard” is high in dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. Hard water is not a health risk, but a nuisance because of mineral buildup on fixtures and poor soap and/or detergent performance. The particular mix of minerals in the water at Sandy Hollow is difficult to treat and so there is effectively no softening process being applied.

As the water and sewerage supply authority Council faces a number of challenges in maintaining a high level of service, these include

• Augmentation of water and sewerage facilities to meet population growth.
• Managing the risk associated with the supply of potable water and the treatment and disposal of sewage for the community.
• Improving the serviceability and economic life of assets by regular maintenance and rehabilitation;
• Improving the quality and reliability of Sandy Hollow’s water supply
• Fluoridation of Denman and Sandy Hollow water supplies.

Water and Sewerage Services

Drinking Water Quality

Council maintains a sampling and testing program in accordance with the NHMRC Guidelines as it is the local water authority. Overall the water quality has remained stable when compared to the last reporting period with the exception of turbidity and pH which have decreased marginally when compared to the last reporting period. This is mainly due to water treatment plant malfunctions and issues with turbidity and hardness that arise from using the Hunter River as a water source. Table seven details water quality compliance for the 2010/11 reporting period.

Water Quality Compliance

Physical and Chemical	Muswellbrook	Denman	Sandy Hollow
Physical	96%	94%	58%
Chemical	98%	98%	95%
Key Characteristics
Turbidity	97%	100%	100%
pH	95%	84%	87%
Colour	100%	100%	100%
Microbiological
E.Coli	100%	100%	99%
Total Coliforms	99%	99%	97%

Reasons for Non-Compliance

Muswellbrook
The 4% non compliance of physical factors in Muswellbrook is due to

• High hardness which could not be treated because of changes made to the treatment process to treat high turbidity of the river water (source water) during periods of heavy rain
• High turbidity reading due to dirty water in a some parts of the distribution system

The 2% non compliance of chemical parameters is due to plant malfunction and an aging pipe system which is due to be replaced in the 2011/12 financial year.

The 1% non compliance of microbiological factors is due to low chlorine readings.

Denman
The 6% non compliance of physical parameters is due to increased hardness and total dissolved solids, turbidity and pH and this is due to a plant malfunction.

The 1% non compliance of microbiological factors is due to sample contamination at the time of sampling.

Sandy Hollow
Non compliance of physical and chemical parameters are due to the source water being hard water – there is no softening process. Low chlorine levels are due to a plant failure. 

3% non compliance in total coliforms was due to a period of low chlorine levels.

1% non compliance in E.Coli is due to sample contamination at the time of sampling.

Drinking Water Consumption

Through the Water Campaign, Council has set a goal to reduce the community water consumption by 16% on the 2003/04 baseline level by 2015.

Due to a wetter year reduced water consumption across the Shire has been achieved. The community water saving goal has easily been met this year.

During the reporting period council extracted 2151ML of water from the Hunter River to supply water to the community. Table 8 details water consumption across the LGA.

Table 8: Water Consumption across the LGA

Location	Water Consumption (ML)	WaterCampaign baseline community water consumption(ML)	Percentage reduction from baseline
Muswellbrook	1305	1792	27%
Denman	134	206	35%
Sandy Hollow	17	24	28%
Total	1456	2022	28%

 

Water Consumption compared across past reporting periods

Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy

Muswellbrook Shire Council is continually planning its water, sewerage and stormwater business activities. The Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy aims to maximise the benefit derived from available water resources through the efficient and appropriate management of urban water services. It also encourages the evaluation of opportunities to minimise the impact of the urban water services on the available water resources through the identification and assessment of potential management solutions to address a range of catchment, water resources and urban issues.

An IWCM Strategy considers issues such as

• The future urban water services needs and customer expectations
• The availability of water including water sources such as rainwater, effluent and stormwater;
• The high consumption of town water on a per head of population basis when in comparison to state medians and similar sized populations and
• The impact of town water use on other water users including the environment and future generations.

Demand Management

The Demand Management Strategy provides the water supply managers of Muswellbrook Shire Council an action plan to improve water use efficiency in the Muswellbrook Shire Council local government area.
                        
The potential benefits of a demand management program include improving the efficiency of water resource use and also delaying capital works for new infrastructure by extending the life of current infrastructure and therefore reducing the operational costs of providing town water services. This in turn leads to lower water supply rates for the consumer, a more secure water supply into the future and leaves more water for environmental uses. Balancing investment in demand management initiatives with supply side investments is a best practice management approach for a water utility.

The purpose of the plan is to provide an investment program for the implementation of effective demand management measures in the Muswellbrook Shire Council service area.

Drought Management

The Drought Management Strategy establishes how Muswellbrook Shire Council will manage its water supply scheme during periods of drought.

The main drought management issues faced by Muswellbrook Shire Council are:

• The need to supply minimum water requirements to all water supply service areas in order to meet health and sanitary water requirements in the event of total loss of water supply.
• A high residential potable water consumption per connected property compared with other Hunter River local water utilities
• The need to manage community perceptions about availability of water, river flows and restrictions placed on other water users (e.g. agricultural and industry) during drought
• The expected population growth across all the Local Government Area that will increase total water demands; and
• The need to cater for shift workers when applying water restrictions

Treated Effluent Reuse

Council has a target of 100% effluent reuse. This results in nil discharges from either the Muswellbrook or Denman Sewerage Treatment Plants. Council has achieved its target of 100% effluent reuse through its proactive reuse program with local mining companies and golf clubs.

Hunter River Water Monitoring

Council maintains a monitoring program of water quality in the Hunter River and tributaries. The results are published monthly in local newspapers. The Water quality is expressed as a star rating for turbidity, salinity and faecal coliforms and a water use suitability in terms of primary contact (swimming), secondary contact (boating and fishing), stock watering and drinking.

Look out for the advertisements in local papers to see what the water quality was like from the day of sampling.

Overall the water quality monitoring sites have been suitable for swimming and primary contact for 17% of the time an increase of 5 % from the same period last year.  The water use suitability for boating and stock watering has remained stable when compared to last year’s reporting period at 87%.

Table 10: Table 10 Comparison of water use suitability

Water Use Suitability	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11
Primary Contact (swimming)	25%	12%	17%
Secondary contact and stock watering	82%	87%	87%

 

Figure 10: Water Quality advertisement from June 2011:

Website privacy policy

© 2009 Muswellbrook Shire Council ABN 86 864 180 944