Background

Since its formation in 1995, South East Water Corporation has been working closely with local councils and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to identify residential regions where aging septic and sewer treatment plant systems are no longer operating efficiently, resulting in poor ground and surface water quality posing risks to both the environment and human health. Through the establishment of Councils Wastewater Management Plans, South East Water has assisted councils by establishing Backlog Sewerage Schemes to assist with the management and disposal of household wastewater.

Traditionally, Backlog Sewerage Schemes were gravity networks designed like the traditional sewer networks today. This however is problematic, disruptive and costly for residential areas in which people are well established and already living. In the early, 2000’s an engineering solution to this problem was developed to remove the invasive nature of the traditional gravity sewer construction work, with a low impact customer solution for the end-to-end process of decommissioning failing septic or treatment systems with connection to a pump and tank unit, that discharges to pipework that is installed on properties and in residential streets.

Over time, technology and construction methodologies advanced to the point where networks and residential connections are predominately installed via non-invasive Horizontal Directional Drilling, further minimising time and construction impacts to customers whilst also improving the cost offering of these networks over traditional deep gravity sewer construction. These networks became known as Low Pressure Sewer Schemes and are now spread broadly throughout the South East Water Service Region.

South East Water’s Low Pressure Sewer Schemes now service more than 30 suburbs from Belgrave and Selby in the North to Lang Lang in the East and south along both coasts of the Mornington Peninsula.Due in part to construction efficiencies, desired integration of water networks, Low Pressure Sewer Networks have been established in pilot projects such as the Commercial and Industrial Estate Logis located in Dandenong South but also utilised by residential developers for projects that are a significant distance from existing Gravity Sewer Networks. These are known as Developer Driven Schemes and most recently have been installed on a large scale for newly constructed residential developments in Mornington, Lang Lang and at South East Water’s own Aquarevo in Lyndhurst.

All future Pressure Sewer System Installation works are customer driven across three key programs.

• Legacy Backlog – Area’s where schemes have been completed achieving an 80% connection rate. Remaining connections are for customers have not yet connected, knockdown rebuilds or vacant lot developments. This connections span across all the South East Water Service Region.
• Peninsula ECO – South East Water’s largest Pressure Sewer Network, spanning from Rye to Portsea including St Andrews Beach. The largest portion of connections will be generated from customers in this region.
• Developer Driven – Residential and commercial installations as driven and funded by the Land Development Industry. Typically, in the growth corridors to the east inside the Urban Growth Boundary. Excludes Aquarevo.