Parafield Airport

In the late 1990s G.H. Michell, one of Australia�s largest wool processing companies, approached the Council for assistance with water, wastewater and solid waste disposal issues. The company was using about 4 million litres of drinking water every day to wash wool and generating similar quantities of waste water.

A series of trials were conducted, including purpose built trial wetlands on the Michell factory site, which demonstrated that treated stormwater was actually better for scouring than the "harder" mains water. The trials also demonstrated that the waste water could also be effectively treated in wetlands for reuse. This led to the design of the "Water Factory" wetlands and ASR facility at nearby Parafield airport. The 90ML capacity ponds and wetland at Parafield reduce nutrient and pollutant loads by 90%. The cleansed stormwater meeting EPA Licence criteria is stored underground via two ASR bores.