Councillors divided over value of spending $2 million improving South Boulder wastewater treatment plant

The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder will spend $2 million building two new lagoons at the South Boulder wastewater treatment plant, but several councillors expressed opposition to the move at Monday night’s council meeting. The plant is one of the major sources of a smell which has plagued Boulder residents for years and a report to the meeting recommended the reallocation of $2m from the city’s $5.5m 2025-26 capital budget for the facility’s IDEA — intermittent decant extended aeration — plant. The report said the new lagoons would be part of the city’s compliance response to an environmental protection notice issued by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation on July 26. The notice directed the city to take urgent, long-term actions to manage odour emissions, prevent wastewater discharges to Hannans Lake, and upgrade treatment processes at the plant. Through the notice, the city is required to cease the discharge of water to Hannans Lake, reinstate the IDEA plant in 12 months to meet water quality requirements, implement improvements to the wastewater treatment process, and install dual-band screens and a MagFlow meter at the inlet. Currently, works to implement the dual-band screens is under way while the MagFlow meter was installed in September as part of a temporary connection from the old inlet chamber to one of the non-operational lagoons. However, the IDEA plant has not been operational since 2023 and the report said its reinstatement was not considered feasible, hence the proposal for the new lagoons. But the meeting’s motion was only just carried, 5-3. Cr Ric Halse spoke against the motion, saying the city should not invest in the project without a clear report detailing how it would improve the treatment plant and align with the notice response. “I can’t find any justification or any support from the regulator that these two lagoons are warranted and assist in our compliance program for the environmental protection notice,” he said. “Where is the documentation . . . that clearly articulates why we’re doing this, how it achieves the objectives required under the notice and, more importantly, overall strategically how is this going to benefit the facility itself?” “I’m actually really disappointed we’re having to consider a $2m request with no documentation. “It is paramount to have a clear pathway for this project because we don’t approve it, the only part we would approve would be the funding. The regulator will have 100 per cent control of these outcomes. “If anybody can go through those reports and point me in a direction where it refers to the two lagoons being the solution, then I’ll put my sword away.” Cr Wayne Johnson and deputy mayor Terrence Winner also made statements against the motion. Cr Johnson said the funding reallocation was a “big fee” for two ponds “small in nature” and believed they should receive assistance from Water Corporation before moving forward. He also mentioned how he believed the dual-band screens would be enough to make a difference. Cr Winner believed the city were not at a point to move the motion. “I do hold some concerns of the level of positive impact that this project would have on our community as opposed to something like the IDEA plant,” he said. “This proposal will also allow for greater storage capacity, which is always welcomed, however I just don’t want us to be pulled from focusing on getting a processing system going asap.” Cr Winner said he would ideally like to amend the motion to instead include a report back to the council on options as to where the budget reallocation could come from. Mayor Glenn Wilson and Cr Kirsty Della spoke in support of the motion. Mr Wilson said it would comply with the environmental protection notice by ceasing overflow into Hannans Lake. “We’ve actually got more wastewater that’s going into our plant than our plant was probably designed for in the first place,” he said. “When we receive a large rainfall, we only need probably 30 to 40ml of rain at one time, to really bolster up our particular facility and therefore push water through the system a lot quicker, taking on more than what we’ve designed for. “We have an opportunity to stop the pollution that discharges into Hannans Lake and have more water security for our community at the same time, as opposed to wasting it.” He took the opportunity to remind the council that the facility was not the only reason for the stench that was affecting the community. “We are not the only odour emitter in the city,” he said. “Obviously, as the owner of the wastewater treatment plant we do receive a lot of publicity around that, and we are working to ensure that our plant is at its efficiency and is at its best outcomes for our community and that includes making sure that the odour is treated as it should be. “I’d like to know if there’s anywhere in the world where there’s a wastewater treatment plant that doesn’t smell.” Cr Dellar said she supported the motion to prioritise the city’s compliance. “If we continually kick the tin down the road, we run the risk of being non-compliant,” she said. “Odour emissions is our number two issue in the community at the moment. “The current system, the way that it is, is not functioning ideally and what we want to do is get the South Boulder wastewater treatment plant optimised so that we are not perceived as a problem in the community. “If we don’t start now, we become part of the problem.” The motion came almost two weeks after the council visited the treatment plant to “further understand” the facility. Mr Wilson said the trip was consistent with when the city received odour reports.