General News
21 April, 2025
Western Wyreema could get sewerage
A report submitted to a Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) meeting last week supports the section of Wyreema township west of the rail line getting infill sewering.
Last week’s Water and Waste Committee meeting received the Greater Western Toowoomba Sewerage Catchment Study Planning Report, completed in 2023 and the Addendum to the Greater Western Toowoomba Sewerage Catchment Study, completed in 2025.
Unlike the eastern side of town, which is mostly newer housing such as the Karara Gardens estate, the western side of town does not have infill sewering.
Instead, individual properties have their town on-site treatment and disposal units.
“Based on the lot sizes in this area, the previous Wyreema Sewerage Study found that most properties have insufficient land area for on-site disposal based on the recommended minimum lot size of 4,000m2,” the Greater Western Toowoomba Sewerage Catchment Study said.
“There is one existing sewer line crossing under the railway, which only services the Wyreema School.
Options for infill sewering this area of Wyreema were last investigated in the Wyreema Sewerage Study completed in 2014.
“As no works have been completed since the last study, apart from the gravity main servicing the school, infill sewer options were re-investigated in this report.”
It is estimated in the report that the cost of the West Wyreema infill project would be $2.295 million.
There is $12.5 million allocated for the Wyreema and the Torrington infill sewer projects in TRC’s Capital Works Program.
The report notes that the project has been applied to the 2036 planning horizon, however further investigations into the current state of on-site disposal in west Wyreema should be undertaken to determine if infill sewering is required earlier to meet environmental or public health concerns.
Southern Water Reclamation Facility
Elsewhere in the Greater Western Toowoomba Sewerage Catchment Study, the location of the proposed Southern Water Reclamation Facility (SWRF) was looked at.
It is assumed the SWRF will service Westbrook, Wyreema, Cambooya, Drayton, Torrington, Glenvale/Wilsonton, the Toowoomba Trade Gateway and the future residential area of Glenvale off Drayton Wellcamp Road.
Three options were investigated and preliminarily costed, including one north west of Westbrook and two at Charlton.
All options were estimated to cost between $40 and $50 million, with the Westbrook option looking to be the most expensive, however the costs of the water reclamation facility itself, land acquisition or environmental requirements have not been considered.
