Harvey Water to pump treated non-portable recycled water from Harvey Fresh to Harvey Dam under proposed plans

A State-first initiative to use recycled water for agriculture could be just the beginning, according to the head of a South West water cooperative. Harvey Water and Lactalis-owned Harvey Fresh are joining forces to work on using the dairy and juice producer’s wastewater supply to create a climate-independent source to supply the Harvey Dam. Water used in the dairy and juice processing facility is currently used solely for irrigation within the company’s property, but Harvey Water chief executive Bruce Hathway said Lactalis was looking for other options. “We saw it as an opportunity to treat that water and use a valuable resource, so we were interested in seeing if we could work with them to find a way to utilise it,” he said. The plans are eight months in the making, with hopes it could be up and running by late September. Wastewater from the Harvey Fresh facility will go through treatment it already receives, including fatty substance removal and nutrient treatment, before it gets further treated by Harvey Water. Using a system currently being manufactured, the water go through additional UV and chlorine disinfection before being pumped through a 4km pipeline to the reservoir. Mr Hathway said it is an opportunity to demonstrate the cooperative can recycle water effectively on a smaller scale. “It’s not significant in terms of our water balance, but hopefully it’s the start of us looking at these types of projects in earnest into the future,” he said. The estimated 365ML the system could contribute to dam levels annually will make up only a small fraction of total dam supply, which on July 10 stood at over 35GL. The Department of Health has given in-principle approval for the scheme, which be required to complete six processes before the treated water is allowed to start being fed into Harvey Dam. Harvey Water is currently awaiting approvals for the pipeline. There will be remote monitoring of water quality, with any water out of specification able to be diverted to storage ponds on site. The recycled water is expected to have a lower salt content than water naturally flowing into Harvey Dam. An information session was held at the cooperative’s headquarters on Wednesday for community members to learn more about the proposed scheme.