Community Education
What not to flush

Application for Permission to Carry Out Alterations to Sewer/Water Mains
Guidelines
Building Over Council Sewers Guidelines

Overview:

Council owns and operates two sewerage treatment plants – one in Innisfail (Coquette Point Road), and one in Tully (Wildsoet Street).

The Innisfail sewerage treatment plant was built in the early 1970s. An upgrade of the Innisfail plant to tertiary treatment level is underway to reduce or remove nutrients level discharge by the end of 2012.

Innisfail plant (secondary treatment): The plant has an inlet structure, two primary sedimentation tanks, two secondary sedimentation tanks, two digesters (primary and secondary), and a chlorine contact tank for sodium hypochlorite disinfection.

Purpose of treatment: The process reduces biochemical oxygen demand and suspended solids. It does not treat nitrogen or phosphorous. The new treatment plant, which is expected to be operating by the end of the year, will do this as well.

Tully plant (tertiary treatment): The plant includes an inlet structure, circular bio reactor (circular oxidating ditch), final clarification tank, UV for disinfection before discharge and chemicals to help with the removal of nutrients.

The Innisfail and Tully plants are sampled by the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) on a regular basis.

For any further enquiries or for organisation of educational tours e.g. school visits, please contact Council’s Customer Service department.

On-site sewerage (septic tanks):  On-site sewerage facilities (septic tanks) are necessary in unsewered areas to provide wastewater treatment and disposal of effluent by land application. When functioning correctly, these facilities provide an effective cost-efficient sewerage treatment system. However, poorly-designed and maintained treatment and land applications may contribute to the pollution of ground water and surface water.

The householder is obligated to operate and maintain the on-site sewerage facility to achieve performance standards and criteria for effluent quality and impact on the environment.

The design, installation and maintenance of septic tanks and absorption trenches need to comply with the Department of Environmental Management’s Code of Practice for On Site Sewerage Systems and the Australian Standards AS/NZS 1547,2000 On-Site Domestic Wastewater Management and AS 1546 Part 1 Septic Tanks and Part 3 Aerated Wastewater Systems.

Property owners need Council approval before installing new on-site sewerage facilities.

Sewerage Scheme: Chemicals and similar substances should not be discharged into the sewer. If there is a sewer blockage, it is the responsibility of the property owner to ring a private plumber first.

Trade Waste: Trade waste is a liquid discharge containing trade or factory wastes, chemicals or other impurities from any business, trade or manufacturing premises.

Cassowary Coast Regional Council issues a Permit to Discharge Trade Waste to the sewer so it can control the amount and type of trade waste being discharged into the sewerage system. 

It is an offence under the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 and the Local Government Act 1993 to discharge trade waste to the sewer without a Trade Waste Permit.

For more information, see the Trade Waste section under Waste Management.