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Trade wastewater fees
The costs you're responsible for
What we charge for your trade wastewater discharge covers what it costs to manage and treat it. Our charges are made up of 2 parts: management fees and waste quality charges.
Management fees
This is a summary of management fees that cover our administration, monitoring, sampling and inspection costs.
- Additional inspection fees apply when we need to do more than the planned inspections (which are included in the permit fees). These inspections can be to monitor trade waste discharge or to ensure a customer complies with requirements.
- Quarterly fee is based on the maximum of 92 days. Quarters with fewer days will cost less.
- Variation fees cover the cost of validating and processing changes to an existing approval. You may request a variation once every 6 months.
Commercial customers
| Fees | 2022–23 charge | 2023–24 charge |
|---|---|---|
Application fee |
No fee |
No fee |
Variation fee |
No fee |
No fee |
Additional inspections |
$223.32 |
$241.49 |
Liquid waste trap (grease trap) quarterly charge |
$11.21 per trap (grease trap) |
$12.09 per trap |
Quarterly permit fees – first process |
$29.74 |
$32.07 |
Quarterly permit fees – each additional process |
$9.91 |
$10.69 |
Download our Commercial customers: Trade wastewater fees and charges fact sheet.
Industrial customers
| Fees | 2022–23 charge | 2023–24 charge |
|---|---|---|
Application fee (standard) |
$883.10 |
$954.97 |
Variation fee |
$497.38 |
$537.86 |
Renewal fee |
No fee |
No fee |
Additional inspections |
$223.32 |
$241.49 |
Liquid waste trap (grease trap) quarterly charge |
$11.21 per trap (grease trap) |
$12.09 per trap |
Quarterly consent fees Risk Index 1, 2 or 3 |
$2,973.15 |
$3,206.32 |
Quarterly consent fees Risk Index 4 |
$1,372.22 |
$1,479.84 |
Quarterly consent fees Risk Index 5 |
$914.81 |
$986.56 |
Quarterly consent fees Risk Index 6 |
$457.41 |
$493.28 |
Quarterly consent fees Risk Index 7 |
$228.71 |
$246.64 |
Download our Industrial customers: Trade wastewater fees and charges fact sheet.
Waste quality charges
Commercial customers
We've characterised the quality of trade wastewater from commercial customers by sampling groups with similar processes. We've used this information to calculate the cost of treating that trade wastewater. Each process is assigned a dollar per kilolitre ($/kL) charge.
| Commercial process | 2022–23 charge ($/kL) | 2023–24 charge ($/kL) |
|---|---|---|
High strength Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) food – includes fried chicken outlets, Asian-style barbecues, ice cream parlours, craft breweries 12 kL per day and some retail bakeries |
2.588 |
2.799 |
Low strength BOD food – includes restaurants, food courts, takeaway food outlets (including burger and pizza restaurants) |
1.868 |
2.019 |
High strength BOD food and low strength BOD food – if pre-treatment is not maintained* |
14.442 |
15.618 |
Automotive – includes service stations, panel beaters, car detailers, mechanical workshops and some car wash activities |
0.533 |
0.575 |
Commercial laundry – includes laundromats, small commercial laundries, hospitals, nursing home and hotel laundries, and small dyers |
0.438 |
0.473 |
Equipment hire washing |
3.081 |
3.331 |
Lithographic processing |
0.307 |
0.332 |
* If the pre-treatment is poorly maintained or you haven't installed pre-treatment, we may apply higher charges.
For a complete list of commercial processes and charging rates, download our Commercial customers: Trade wastewater fees and charges fact sheet.
Industrial customers
We've calculated the additional costs of treating each substance. We charge industrial customers for the mass of each substance discharged.
Discharge to water resource recovery facilities providing primary treatment
A primary water resource recovery facility provides simple treatment involving screening, settling and flotation to treat wastewater.
If you discharge to a facility providing primary treatment, these charges may apply. Find out what level of treatment is provided at your water resource recovery facility. Each process has a dollar per kilogram ($/kg) charging rate.
| Substance | 2022–23 charging rate ($/kg) | 2023–24 charging rate ($/kg) |
|---|---|---|
BOD |
0.355 + (0.154 x [BOD mg/L] / 600) |
0.383 + (0.166 x [BOD mg/L] / 600) |
Suspended solids |
0.500 |
0.540 |
Grease |
0.453 |
0.490 |
Nitrogen |
0.000 |
0.000 |
Phosphorus |
0.000 |
0.000 |
Discharge to water resource recovery facilities providing secondary or tertiary treatment
A secondary water resource recovery facility treats wastewater using screening, settling, flotation and bacterial decomposition. A tertiary water resource recovery facility treats wastewater using screening, settling, flotation, bacterial decomposition and nutrient removal.
If you discharge to a facility providing secondary or tertiary treatment, these charges may apply. Find out what level of treatment is provided at your water resource recovery facility. Each process has a dollar per kilogram ($/kg) charging rate.
| Substance | 2022–23 charging rate ($/kg) | 2023–24 charging rate ($/kg) |
|---|---|---|
BOD |
1.748 + (0.154 x [BOD mg/L] / 600) |
1.890 + (0.166 x [BOD mg/L] / 600) |
Suspended solids |
1.141 |
1.233 |
Grease |
1.180 |
1.276 |
Nitrogen |
1.307 |
1.413 |
Phosphorus |
1.509 |
1.633 |
Discharge to systems affected by odour and corrosion
If you discharge to a wastewater system affected by accelerated odour and corrosion, these additional charges may apply. Each process has a dollar per kilogram ($/kg) charging rate.
| Substance | 2022–23 charging rate | 2023–24 charging rate |
|---|---|---|
Temperature > 25°C |
$8.943 / megalitre / each °C above 25°C |
$9.670 / megalitre / each °C above 25°C |
pH |
$80.781 / megalitre / each pH unit < pH7 |
$87.355 / megalitre / each pH unit < pH7 |
For a complete list of acceptance standards and charging rates, download our Industrial customers: Acceptance standards and charging rates fact sheet.