Western Treatment Plant
The Western Treatment Plant (formerly the Metropolitan Sewage Farm or, more commonly, the Werribee Sewage Farm) is a sewage treatment plant in Cocoroc, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's central business district, on the coast of Port Phillip Bay. It was completed in 1897 by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW), and is currently operated by Melbourne Water. The plant's land is bordered by the Werribee River to the east, the Princes Freeway to the north, and Avalon Airport to the west. It forms part of the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site as a wetland of international importance. The Western Treatment Plant treats around fifty percent of Melbourne's sewage — about per day — and generates almost of recycled water a year. (The Eastern Treatment Plant treats 40%.) History The need for a solution The discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851 led to Melbourne becoming the richest city in the world at the time and thus, with a population of about 500,000 by the 1880s, also Australia's most populous. The rapidly expanding metropolis faced an increasing pollution problem. While it was described by British journalists as "Marvellous Melbourne" and "a city of magnificent