2025.007 Western Aeration Lagoon Desludge Project

Summary and scope

The Mount Barker District Council seeks to engage suitably qualified contractors who are experienced in providing desludging services. The Western Aeration Lagoon was last desludged in September 2022 and in excess of 1000 dry tonnes were removed. A survey to determine the level of sludge since the 2022 desludge in the Western Aeration Lagoon was completed in February 2025. This survey revealed that there was 867 dry tonnes equivalent of sludge currently present in this lagoon. The performance of the existing WWTP is reduced because of the high sludge levels in the lagoon. The desludging of the Western Aeration Lagoon will improve water quality and plant performance. The following is a summary of the scope to desludge the Western Aeration Lagoon: Removal of a minimum of 867 dried tonnes of sludge from the Western Aeration Lagoon via dredging and centrifuges (or similar) for dewatering by a licensed specialist contractor; Transportation of the dried sludge to Council’s disposal site at Lot 102 Ironstone Range Road, Nairne; and It is Councils preference that the services are completed by May 2025. The Council will enter into an Agreement for these Services with the successful Tenderer.