Barwon Water has received funding to upgrade its Portarlington Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) on Church Road, Portarlington, allowing it to produce a higher quality recycled water and nearly double the amount of recycled water used on the Bellarine.

The upgrade will involve constructing ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis infrastructure to produce fit-for-purpose recycled water at a significantly lower salinity level than the existing high salinity Class C water.

The project will support agricultural and horticulture production opportunities on the Bellarine Peninsula, including wineries, cellar doors, and farm gate tourism. Importantly, it will also reduce reliance on precious drinking water for agriculture.

The project is jointly funded by the Australian and Victorian governments, delivered in partnership with Barwon Water.

Site investigations

As part of our planning for this work, we have conducted a number of investigations over the past few months, including noise and odour assessments, service locations, flora and fauna assessments, geotechnical and land surveys.

Construction is scheduled to commence in late 2023. It is expected that the lower salinity recycled water will become available from March 2025. We will keep the local community and Bellarine recycled water customers informed as the project progresses.