Much is happening at our Bendigo Water Reclamation Plant, as our teams begin to deliver the most significant upgrade of the plant in a generation.

We’ve started electrical upgrades for the Bendigo Solids Handling Upgrade, marking the official beginning of the project.

As the weather warms up, the odour levels at the Bendigo Water Reclamation Plant can increase.

We regularly monitor odours and are aware that the odour has been higher than usual recently. Our plant is nearing capacity levels, ahead of our planned upgrades.

We're doing everything we can to resolve the odour issues. Across the plant we are completing maintenance and other measures to reduce odour. These include:

• Consulting an odour industry expert to make sure we are monitoring and reducing the odour from our plant now and in the future. This is being done as part of our planned upgrades.
• Doing maintenance works on one of our odour-reducing processes, the biofilter. A biofilter is a system that uses biological and physical processes to clean the odorous (smelly) air that is created in the sewerage treatment process. It is a bed of thick layered mulch that contains odour-eating bacteria. It can filter large amounts of odorous air and reduces the amount of odour that is released into the air.

To further contain odours at the site, covers have been installed at our wastewater screening area where sewage arrives at the plant. The sewage is untreated at this point of the process, so enclosing these areas is an effective way to reduce odour.

Our planned upgrades will use the latest technology and increase our treatment capacity. Key benefits of this will include lower carbon emissions, more recycled water outputs, and a reduction in noise and odour.

Learn more about how we manage odour at our plant here.

We encourage you to call us on 1300 363 200 to report odour. The more we receive these reports, the more we can build a picture of the areas of our plant that need the most urgent attention.

Work on the new solids handling facility has started with electrical upgrades within the existing plant.

Upgrading the electrical infrastructure will address reliability issues, support the new facility and support the installation of a major solar facility in the future.

The electrical upgrades are expected to be completed by May 2026 when the construction of the new solids handling facility will begin.

Coliban Water’s delivery partner – LC Envico – is progressing designs and has started preparing the area where the new switchroom will be located at the Bendigo WRP.

For more information about the upgrade visit connect.coliban.com.au/bendigo-wrp-upgrade-project

Ahead of major upgrades planned for 2026, we have begun our procurement process. This involves advertising the upcoming works for tender and is the first step of a long and thorough process to engage a delivery partner who will help deliver our upgrades.

Our planned upgrades will Recycled Water Factory help increase the reliability and quality of Bendigo’s Class A recycled water supply into the future. They include expanding the building structure, increasing filtration capacity, installing a new feed tank and upgrading the chemical dosing system.

Our next update will be in December 2025.