Firefighters have extinguished a small fire this morning at the Lower Molonglo sewage treatment plant.
The Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre is the main treatment facility for Canberra. It is the largest inland treatment facility in Australia.
ACT Fire & Rescue responded to the site with two fire pumpers, HAZMAT unit and commander after being alerted to the incident just before 10 o’clock.
Firefighters entered the premises wearing breathing apparatus and discovered a small fire on the conveyor belt with an incinerator and quickly extinguished it.
Fire crews were this morning ventilating smoke from the building. The cause was unknown when emergency services alerted us to the incident.
During the sewage treatment process at the plant all solid material, known as “sewage sludge”, is removed and incinerated in a high temperature furnace. The resulting ash, Agri-Ash, is sold to farmers as a soil conditioner.
A screening process removes all items over 5mm in diameter. Occasionally unusual objects such as false teeth, plastic toys, garden connections, cans, bottles, metal objects and paintbrushes are discovered in the sewage.
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