We’ve been investigating potential sources of odour at our Castlemaine Water Reclamation Plant, after becoming aware of an odour issue at the plant in recent weeks.

We’re talking directly to neighbours of our plant about our plans to address these issues, which include engaging industry odour experts to assist us.

Through our investigations we have identified a couple of areas of the treatment process that could be causing odour issues.

We are now fast-tracking the following works to address this:

Start the refurbishment of our biofilters. These are a key part of our odour treatment process. This will include replacing the mulch the current biofilter beds. We will improve the seals to reduce odorous air escaping, and improve the water that is used to feed into the filtering process.

We will place a temporary cover over the biofilter beds to reduce likelihood of micro-organisms being displaced when it rains (these help to treat the odour).

We have purchased a second odour treatment unit that we intend to install as a back-up. Pipework will be installed to support operation of this unit.

We will also install a ‘misting system’ to neutralise any odours in the short term. This is a temporary measure to reduce odour while the above works are being carried out. You may notice some noise from this 'misting system'.

We are planning additional medium and longer term works to improve the resilience of our infrastructure. We have also notified the Environment Protection Authority regarding this matter and we continue to provide them with updates.