CQU Plant Sciences staff and students spent Saturday May 27 at the Open Day for the newly commissioned and dedicated Livingstone Shire Council waste water treatment plant.

Professor David Midmore said it was a relevant occasion to engage visitors to the plant about the range of technologies available to treat waste water, whether through rural on-site treatment or through sewage treatment plants.

"Developed at Central Queensland University to maximise the passage of waste water through plants to the atmosphere, and with minimal harm to the environment, the systems offer economic and environmental advantages over direct disposal to waste," Professor Midmore said.

"The on-site alternative, the KEWT system, offers aesthetic options for gardening enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts, while water from the sewage treatment plant has the potential through sustaining growth of perennial tree species, to generate income and/or energy.

"The economic options were demonstrated by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, who have cooperated with CQU, at the same open day.

"There was also interest in the demonstration of the concept of ‘phytocapping’, the covering of land-fill sites with a layer of soil and a tree community that minimise both leaching of rain into the wastes below, and of the emissions of methane from within".

Photo: Interest in the baby-KEWT system, a demonstration of the principles for the KEWT waste water system at the Waste Water Treatment Facility open day.