23 September 2005

In October, financial member councils will receive the latest publication titled Operations and Maintenance Manual for Sewage Treatment Plants.

This manual is a template similar to the suite of seven manuals already produced that member councils are very familiar with. However at over 1,000 pages, this manual is far larger than any of the previous manuals and covers 16 STP processes/components. Due to the size, the manual will be distributed as a CD-ROM to minimise paper usage and mailing costs.

The NSW Department of Commerce was engaged to produce this publication under joint review by the Water Directorate's Water Sub-committee and the Queensland Water Directorate's sub-committee. The writing and reviewing of this document has taken just over 12 months and in order to simplify the manual and optimise its use, it is planned to offer training courses at 3 or 4 locations across NSW before the end of the year.

While this manual has been a long time in the making, the Executive Committee believes that member councils will appreciate its features and thoroughness and find this manual to be a very sophisticated wastewater management tool. It is expected that work will commence on a similar Operations and Maintenance Manual for Water Treatment Plants in 2006.

The Water Directorate recognises the excellent work produced by the Dept of Commerce and by the reviewers and commends the manual to you for its great potential to reduce duplication within each council and across NSW and Queensland . The cost of the manual for member councils will be $400 and $800 for non-member councils.

For more information contact: