Coliban Water customers are advised that the raw water supply to the Heathcote Water Treatment Plant that supplies Heathcote and Tooborac will be changed from Lake Eppalock to Caledonia Reservoir from the week beginning Monday 1 April.
The change has been made to maximise the use of the water currently stored in Caledonia Reservoir.
Executive General Manager Water Quality David Sheehan said the change in supply had been planned for and should be implemented smoothly with customers unlikely to notice a change in the taste or odour of the water.
“The water from Caledonia Reservoir is good quality and the reservoir is full, so it makes sense to utilise what we have in storage,” Mr Sheehan said.
All drinking water is treated to a standard that meets the requirements of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and Victoria’s Safe Drinking Water Act.
A range of other works are also progressing in Heathcote as part a $4.8 million upgrade of the town’s Water Treatment Plant to improve the broader water treatment process.
Manager Infrastructure Corey Bourne said the year-long works program includes an upgrade of disinfection equipment on site, including the UV system and chlorine disinfection system.
“In the next month we will be installing temporary infrastructure to ensure there is no interruption to the normal treated water supply for our customers while construction of the new UV system takes place and changes to the chlorine system are carried out.
“The new UV equipment is due to arrive onsite shortly and will be installed by our contractor.”
Mr Bourne said the next phase of the project is to make the Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) dosing system, which is currently being used at the plant, a permanent part of the treatment process. An upgrade to the wash water handling system will also be included in the next phase.
“The PAC dosing system significantly reduces the severity of any taste and odour events that may occur in the raw water supply. It also provides improvements in the visual aspect of the water and ensures the continued supply of not only safe drinking water, but drinking water that tastes great.
“The wash water handling system will help us to minimise wastewater production and in turn reduce the inflows to the Heathcote Water Reclamation Plant,” Mr Bourne said.
If customers have any concerns about water quality or the change in water source, please contact our Customer Support Team on 1300 363 200 (1300 COLIBAN) or email coliban@coliban.com.au.
For more information see the Planned works page on our website at www.coliban.com.au.
Last updated on 10 Jul 2019