Tamworth council looks to state government to fund $75 million reverse osmosis plant for city business

If built, the reverse osmosis plant would be able to produce twice as much industrial-grade water as required for every abattoir in the city - even in the worst drought.

On Tuesday night, Tamworth Regional Councillors voted unanimously to spend $1,735,000 from their waste water reserve to fund design work and costings for the project.

Mayor Russell Webb said the council was looking to the NSW government to fund the rest of the project, estimated to cost about $75 million. The scheme would create or secure "thousands of jobs" in Tamworth, he said.

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He said the federal government isn't responsible for managing water - just funding major infrastructure projects like the $1.3bn Dungowan Dam - putting the ball in the state's court.

"I'm hoping that the state government will see the benefit in it, they'll see the business case and say 'this is an absolute no-brainer'," he said.

The project will be used to recycle water used in Tamworth's beef, lamb and chicken abattoirs for reuse in the same businesses that generated it.

Cr Webb said the plan would reduce pressure on potable water supply, by offsetting the use of drinking water in thirsty industry like the city's food processing sector. It would also improve the water quality used for the city's water reuse farm.

"All around, the residents will benefit because they will have more access to more potable water," he said.

"Industry will benefit because we'll be reusing the water that they had so there will be a reuse system

"And the farm will benefit.

"So all around the community will benefit."

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Director Water and Waste Bruce Logan said the plant wouldn't recycle human waste or produce drinking water, just industrial water.

But producing recycled drinking water at the facility would be an option for the future, he said.

"There is no technical reason why you can't have direct potable reuse of effluent water but the community's got to be on board before we would have to do that," he said.

"We're not doing that at the moment, this is purified water for industrial use; it's not suitable for drinking water."

Cr Webb said the council had already had a meeting with Deputy Premier Paul Toole on the project and the business case was "on his table".

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"We're hoping to get some sort of response in the next few weeks," he said.

If built the project would be the first reverse osmosis plant west of the Great Dividing Range, and would be able to produce about 10 megaliters a day, twice as much as the 5 megalitres consumed by the city's abattoirs. Mr Logan said the facility can be scaled up with increased supply and demand.

It would be built either at a site on Wallamore Road or at the Westdale Waste Waste Treatment plant and directly employ a handful of people in operations, he said.

The project is estimated to cost $75.3 million upfront, followed by $25 million each 15 years.

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Baiada won development consent to build a new $300 million poultry processing plant last year, a plan that would double the size of its existing facility, but require four times the water.

The Leader understands the NSW Government will continue to look at funding options for the project.

Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, has ruled out federal backing for the project.

"It's a good idea, but we need to build a dam first," he said last week.

"We have funding for the [Dungowan] dam. You can't purify water if there's no water to be purified."

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