Hundreds of thousands of new residents moving into a region just north of Brisbane will benefit from critical wastewater upgrades.

The first phase of a Unitywater project will see two wastewater pump stations upgraded and 3km of pipeline laid to support 26,000 people, while the second phase will support around 100,000 residents through the installation of a new pipeline connected to the South Caboolture wastewater treatment plant.

Downer is carrying out the project, with initial geotechnical investigations and vacuum excavation to get underway shortly. Stage one of the project is expected to be completed in mid-2027, with stage two currently in the early design phase.

This forms part of a broader $2 billion Unitywater capital investment program focused on delivering water and wastewater infrastructure to support “unprecedented” population growth across the Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Noosa regions.

“As the number of households in the region grows, the investment in these infrastructure upgrades will increase the network’s capacity, reliability and reduce the risk of overflows during extreme weather events,” Unitywater executive manager –sustainable infrastructure solutions Mike Basterfield said.

Unitywater recently expended the delivery partners for its $2bn capital investment program, with Abergeldie joining Downer, Dormway and Elevate – a joint venture between Aurecon and AECOM.

“Abergeldie’s experience will complement Downer’s program of work across Unitywater’s portfolio of wastewater treatment plants and southern distribution networks, Dormway’s work on the northern distribution networks and Elevate’s front end engineering and design services,” Basterfield said.

Unitywater oversees more than $4.3 billion of water, wastewater and recycled water infrastructure to service over 900,000 residents across its catchment. The Queensland Government expects this region north of Brisbane to welcome an extra 525,000 residents by 2046.

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