WA Department of Justice

In 2014, Factor UTB was awarded a contract by the Western Australian Department of Justice to design and construct a new sewage treatment facility to service Acacia Prison, a medium-security correctional institution located approximately 60 kilometres east of Perth along the Great Eastern Highway.

The new treatment system was commissioned to support a major expansion of the prison, increasing capacity to more than 1,500 inmates and establishing Acacia as one of the largest correctional institutions in the Southern Hemisphere. The facility was designed to deliver reliable, compliant wastewater treatment under highly variable loading conditions, while ensuring environmental protection of the surrounding Wooroloo district.

Factor UTB’s involvement ensured the delivery of a robust and scalable treatment solution that integrated with the broader infrastructure upgrades undertaken as part of the prison expansion programme. The plant has a peak daily treatment capacity of 906kL. The strong and ongoing relationship between Factor UTB, the Department of Justice, and the prison operators led to further project engagements at Acacia Prison. These included the desludging of an existing 40 ML storage dam, which had previously been misused, and the installation of a sludge management facility incorporating dual decanting centrifuges for efficient dewatering and solids handling.

For a period of ten years following construction of the plant, under contract, Factor UTB was responsible for the full operation of the wastewater treatment facility. Local contractors were trained and appointed to manage day-to-day operations and respond to alarms, while Factor UTB engineers attended site on a quarterly basis to undertake advanced maintenance, process optimisation, and
performance reviews.

Operational responsibility has since been fully transferred to the prison operators. However, Factor UTB continues to provide assistance as required, responding to requests for operational or technical support, reflecting the long-standing partnership and confidence in our expertise.