An upgrade at Canberra's sewage treatment facility won't stop fish being polluted with prescription drugs like Prozac, despite the $72million price tag.
Actew's Ross Knee said the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre redevelopment, due to open in August 2010, would improve the quality of the released effluent and increase the water treatment plant's capacity by 20 per cent to 36.5gigalitres, but would not target pharmaceuticals.
About 30GL of effluent is treated and released each year into the Murrumbidgee River for downstream use.
Water contaminants expert Stuart Khan said he was concerned by recent American studies which found fish from five US rivers were tainted with traces of medications and common chemicals.
''There is no evidence of ill effects of those chemicals but there is certainly widespread concern,'' Dr Khan said.
Diltiazem (Cardizem), a medication that helps control high blood pressure, and carbamazepine (Tegretol), a drug used for epilepsy and bipolar disorder, were found in fish living in or near US waterways where treated effluent was released.
Mr Knee said the territory's plant, which was commissioned in the 1970s, was struggling to cope with Canberra's increasing population.
''We built the bypass dam about 12 years ago ... if the system is under any stress we bypass it into the bypass dam and then pump it back and treat the sewerage.'' He said the bypass dam had been up to 90 per cent full.
''I wouldn't say [the expansion was] urgent but it just takes the pressure off. It'll reduce the number of times we use the bypass dam.''
He said the upgrade would ensure the plant met more stringent environmental requirements should these be required in the future. ''The new equipment will bring with it environmental benefits such as reduced nitrogen levels.''
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