Geoff Helisma | A report to next week’s Clarence Valley Council meeting will show that the cost of rehabilitating the Lower Clarence’s old sewerage treatment plants at Townsend, Maclean and Ilarwill will run $333,311 over budget. The extra expenditure is itemised: Increased volume of contaminated material requiring landfill disposal (provisional rate), $230,000; Transport of excavated natural material or virgin excavated natural material from Woodford Island STP to Townsend STP site for fill, $35,000; Additional biosolids testing for increased volume of biosolids at Townsend STP, $15,000; and, Transport of biosolids to external site for beneficial reuse (required due to EPA not approving reuse on site), $200,000. To date, $1,803,311 has been spent on the project. The approved budget for the project is $1.95million (including 15 per cent for variations); however, the estimated cost of completing the project is $2,283,311. “Any variations will be required to be funded from the sewer fund,” the report to council states. “Modelling of the sewer fund indicates that a budget variation of this magnitude will not have an adverse impact on the performance of the sewer fund.”