FAQ

The City of Logan is one of Australia’s fastest growing cities. A key development corridor extends from Park Ridge to Yarrabilba.

As development progresses and the population increases in this corridor, additional critical infrastructure such as wastewater treatment facilities and trunk pipelines is required. 

The proposed treatment facility at Cedar Grove is to cater for growth in the Greater Flagstone, Greenbank and Jimboomba areas. 

Council is co-funding this project with the Queensland Government and coordinating this project in consultation with regulatory authorities and community members.

Council’s Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance will undertake all planning and design activities. 

Planning of the new wastewater treatment facility including selection of a preferred site will be conducted in 2018/19. 

Following engineering design, funding and approvals, construction of the treatment facility and connecting trunk pipelines will occur in stages. 

Current planning suggests that the first stage of the treatment facility is required by late 2021 to service development.

If individual developers were required to provided wastewater treatment facilities to service specific developments, the result would be dozens of treatment facilities of different types and sizes scattered across Logan.  Council would be required to operate and maintain these facilities on behalf of residents for many years.  The impacts of this situation would be:

• high operating and maintenance costs for Council, which would have to be passed onto Logan residents through wastewater service charges
• location of treatment facilities in urban areas / near residents which may result in noise, odour, lighting and traffic impacts on residents
• an inability to discharge highly treated water to waterways or land, possibly resulting in the need to tanker wastewater off site to a centralised treatment location, resulting in frequent truck movements in residential areas

Council is investigating potential locations for a new wastewater treatment facility in the development corridor extending from Park Ridge to Yarrabilba.

Approximately 10 hectares of land is required to build the facility, with an additional 550m surrounding this for a buffer between the facility and developed areas. The site needs to: 

• be near the development areas it will service
• have a sufficient flood fee area for key structures
• be near a place where highly treated water from the facility can be released such as a waterway, irrigation area or a business area where the water can be used.

No.  A report titled the Logan South Wastewater Servicing Strategy was prepared by Cardno for Economic Development Queensland in May 2016.  This strategy was a desktop options analysis and technical review.  As noted in the Executive Summary of the document, the strategy's purpose was to consolidate and resolve differences between previous planning activities and recommend a preferred servicing strategy for the region.

The strategy considered a range of wastewater servicing options and potential sites for wastewater treatment.  These sites were selected according to technical criteria and were not progressed beyond desktop analysis.

The term 'preferred' in relation to various sites does not imply selection of any site; simply that at the time of writing the strategy, Cardno considered that the sites met a range of technical criteria.

The report was presented to Council in June 2016 at which time Council endorsed the strategy as the basis for providing wastewater infrastructure, but did not resolve to adopt the report's recommendations subject to further investigations and EDQ funding.

A copy of this report can be found in the Document Library section of this site named:  Project background and previous studies - Updated 24/07/2018

A range of approvals apply to aspects of the infrastructure development. 

For example, if the location of the facility is within a Queensland Government Priority Development Area (PDA) such as Yarrabilba funding approval and overall acceptance of the type, location and capacity of infrastructure are coordinated by Economic Development Queensland. 

If the location of the facility is not within a PDA, Logan City Council will coordinate necessary funding and approvals. Environmental approvals / licences are provided by the Department of Environment and Science. 

The main project benefits and opportunities for Logan’s economy, environment and community are: 

• Essential services for growing communities in the city's central to southern corridor.
• Development of sustainable infrastructure that minimises lifecycle costs, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, potential wastewater overflows and odours.
• Local employment and skills development during delivery and operation of new infrastructure. Local construction companies and suppliers will be used wherever possible.
• Potential opportunities to enhance local community facilities and wildlife habitat as part of the development.

The project is in the early planning phase and as yet there is no concept design. However, the state-of-art wastewater treatment facility is likely to use modern membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology. 

MBRs consist of fine screening, denitrification and nitrification zones, biological and chemical phosphorous removal, which is then followed by membrane treatment and disinfection. 

MBR technology provides optimal outcomes for residents in relation to quality of the treated water, odour controls, operability, maintenance and costs.

Modern wastewater treatment facilities are generally unobtrusive structures. While there is no concept design for this facility yet, it may include these components:

• inlet works
• a bioreactor system
• an integrated membrane system
• aerobic sludge digestions and dewatering (centrifuge)
• a chemical dosing unit
• an administration building
• a blower building / switchboard building
• a switchroom
• an electrical substation
• a solar array
• a treated water system such as constructed wetlands or an irrigation area
• a discharge pipeline for treated water
• a buffer between wastewater treatment facility structures and adjacent developments
• potential community facilities around the facility / in the buffer such as walking trails or other recreational facilities.

On behalf of Council, Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance will implement a range of engagement activities including:

• online consultation via Council's website including information sheets and a 'have your say' survey where the community can provide feedback
• community information sessions in the project area
• face-to-face meetings (as required).

Consultation closes on 20 August 2018.

You can also provide feedback at any time by phoning Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance's Community Engagement Team on 07 3412 9609 or email community@loganwia.com.au.

Information on Council's major water and wastewater projects is provided on this website.