In the MidCoast, we have five water treatment plants, 14 sewage treatment plants and 10 recycled water schemes. Each facility has different treatment processes that ensure water quality for drinking, irrigation and effluent discharge meet the required standards.

These processes use energy and chemicals to run every day, while the components require regular maintenance and replacement. In addition, we pump water and sewage long distances and have to maintain and operate our infrastructure across large, spread-out areas.

In the MidCoast, we have to run and maintain water and sewerage networks that reach our customers across large, spread-out distances, with less homes connected to our network than in metropolitan areas.

As we have less homes connected, we have a lower population to spread the cost of our services across. For example, we have 30 sewer connections per kilometre of sewer main compared to the Central Coast, which has 50 connections per kilometre. Sydney and Newcastle have even greater customer densities.

We’re reliant on certain levels of funding to deliver these projects without having a significant financial impact on our customers’ bills. However, we need to complete the strategy before we’re eligible to apply for funding.

Any new piece of infrastructure we build as part of this strategy will need to meet Council’s Climate Change Policy. This policy outlines our commitment to achieving the following outcomes:

• net zero greenhouse gas emissions from our operations by 2040
• the use of 100% renewable energy to power our operations by 2040.

We took an all options on the table approach to increasing the amount of water we can supply and considered all of the following:

• Groundwater
• Purified recycled water
• Off-stream storage dams
• Stormwater harvesting and reuse
• Rainwater tanks
• Recycled water for non-drinking
• Seawater desalination
• Water carting
• Water efficiency
• Water sharing between regions
• Water education

Like our Manning, Gloucester and Bulahdelah water supply systems, we need to increase the amount of water we can supply from our Stroud system.

However, we have identified the most effective way to do this is to build an off-stream storage dam and we won’t be asking the community for input about different options.

Our modelling shows that the Tea Gardens system can provide enough water to support the Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest communities for at least the next 30 years.

The concentrated saltwater or ‘brine’ that would be left after the desalination process would be discharged back into the ocean, south of Hallidays Point, where it would mix with seawater and be dispersed.

This process would be regulated by the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to ensure there were no adverse impacts on the ecosystem.