Tasmania’s water and sewerage infrastructure is undergoing generational change to bring it up to speed with modern standards.
By investing $2 billion across five years, TasWater is modernising the state’s antiquated water and sewerage infrastructure.
Dozens of new pump stations are being built to help rationalise sewage treatment plants across the state, while refurbishments will put a plug in the state’s significant water leakage rates.
“We currently have 110 sewage treatment plants in Tasmania, which is reflective of previous councils having plants in their own patch,” TasWater general manager – project delivery Tony Willmott told Pump Industry.
“This equates to having about 38 per cent of the water and sewage treatment plants for two per cent of the Australian population, so we’ve got some rationalisation work to do.
“Tasmania loses more drinking water than any other state in Australia, so work will also focus on rectifying significant leakage rates.”
TasWater recently inked a partnership with GHD to support seven new frameworks that will drive the state’s refurbishments.
This includes frameworks across engineering and design, major and medium projects, renewals, plant refurbishments, SCADA and operational technology upgrades and metering.
GHD’s experience in Tasmania – spanning nearly 90 years of operations in the state – attracted TasWater’s attention.
“GHD, which was selected after an extensive tendering process, will help us plan and design the right projects at the right time with the best value for our customers,” Willmott said.
“We’re building a stronger, smarter and sustainable water future for Tasmania, with GHD to support the entire program with integrated planning and design across major projects, renewals and technology upgrades.”
Willmott said that alongside the inherent need to overhaul ageing infrastructure, social expectations are also changing.
“We are seeing step changes in what our customers and regulators expect from water quality, security and our impact on the environment, which is really key to the works we are doing over the next decade,” he said.
“In parallel, improved sewage treatment has become a pressing requirement, with the goal to rationalise seven treatments plants down to one in the Launceston area.”
Launceston overhaul
Sewage treatment plants no longer deemed fit for purpose will be replaced with sewage pump stations, directing flows to an upgraded Ti Tree Bend treatment plant in Invermay.
TasWater recently celebrated a key construction milestone at Ti Tree Bend, with the plant’s 10-megalitre storage tank and pump station capped. This marked the halfway mark of construction, with work on the plant to be completed in mid-2026.
“The completion of the Ti Tree Bend sewage treatment plant … will see a 70 per cent reduction of nutrients discharged to the Kanamaluka/Tamar estuary,” Willmott said.
“The increased storage at Ti Tree Bend also provides capacity to commence work on the Launceston Sewer Transformation, a long-term strategy which will see us rationalise seven ageing treatment facilities into a new modern facility at Ti Tree Bend.”
The new storage tank and pump station at Ti Tree Bend comprises 3500 cubic metres of concrete and 900 tonnes of reinforced steel, with Westbury carrying out the mechanical fabrication and pipeworks.
The developments at Ti Tree Bend go hand-in-hand with the Tamar Estuary River Health Action Plan, which involves new sewage infrastructure being built to improve the health of the Kanamaluka/Tamar estuary.
“A new pump station will collect both stormwater and sewage, with electrical infrastructure, pumps, and a three-kilometre pipeline being installed to connect the facility with the Ti Tree Bend treatment plant,” Willmott said.
TasWater, the City of Launceston and Federal and State Governments are investing a combined $129.2 million into the Tamar Estuary River Health Action Plan.
While Tier 1 contractors will play an important role in TasWater’s Future Delivery Model, the utility is also calling on Tier 2 companies and Tier 3 and 4 ‘mum and dad’ businesses to undertake renewals across the state.
Alongside GHD, TasWater is also working with engineering consultancies, JMG, IPD, pitt&sherry and Ganden, to provide local expertise to the Future Delivery Model.
“Local knowledge from these consultancies will be invaluable when we start to deal with local issues that require robust, tailored solutions,” Willmott said.
Having a range of constituents doesn’t convolute the project, Willmott attests, with continuity built in to transition from “fragmented” short-term contracts to long-term partnerships.
“Traditionally, we have found that once planning was completed, we would enter the design phase and companies implementing the designs would then re-prosecute these works, which is counter-intuitive,” Willmott said.
“We don’t want a design being created and then we get to the construction site, and the contractor says, ‘We can’t build this’. This creates additional costs and unnecessary downtime.
“Instead, we’re connecting the designer with contractors to ensure a design outcome that’s constructible and efficient. This will see long-term partnerships established to improve planning and streamline delivery.
“And by embedding shared governance and joint planning into our frameworks, involving local consultants, TasWater and its partners can deliver projects that are better aligned with community needs and expectations.”
Pump advancements
TasWater’s fifth Price and Services Proposal (PSP5) includes investing approximately $200 million across four years on the renewal of network infrastructure such as pump stations.
“We found some industries were regularly shutting down because of overflowing, so we’ve upgraded a number of pump stations that were causing negative impacts on sensitive waterways,” Willmott said.
“This has seen us install new control technology, pumps, rising mains and storage.”
As part of an urban growth and renewal project, TasWater is also installing the state’s largest pump station (two megalitres and 23-metre diameter) to replace the Macquarie Point sewage treatment plant.
“To build this, the contractor has dug 12 metres into the ground and pulled out around 10,000 cubic metres of soil,” Willmott said.
“This will allow us to decommission and replace the Macquarie Point sewage treatment plant, with sewage to be pumped through a new 4.3-kilometre pipeline to the expanded Selfs Point treatment plant, which is under construction right now.
“This will support Hobart’s sewage needs and forms part of a $380 million project TasWater is delivering in conjunction with the State Government.”
The $380 million investment includes $66 million in upgrades to the Selfs Point site to prepare for the future removal of three additional sewage treatment plants located along the Derwent River.
Once complete, the upgraded Selfs Point plant will treat up to 25 megalitres of wastewater per day and reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous entering the Derwent River by 50 per cent.
With TasWater’s $2 billion commitment to modernising water and sewerage infrastructure spread right across the state, the utility has a mammoth task on its hands.
But through a considered strategy, TasWater is bringing the entire state along for the ride, generating up to 15,000 jobs during development while leveraging the local expertise that has underpinned the state’s water and sewage industries over the years.
Willmott called the Future Delivery Model “an important moment for Tasmania”.
“Our customers support it, our owners support it, and the market’s certainly keen and ready to deliver the program,” he said.
“We’ve long lived on the assets of our forebearers from the ‘50s and ‘60s, and now, 60–70 years on, it’s our turn to upgrade the infrastructure which will be with us for another 100 years.”
This feature appeared in the Summer 2025/26 edition of Pump Industry.
