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In early 1994, the newly formed Goulburn Valley Water inherited Tatura’s sewerage reticulation system and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The extremely poor condition of the sewerage system, and the insufficient treatment of waste by the WWTP instigated a seven million dollar upgrade. Before the commissioning of the upgrade in October 1999, emergency discharges to Mosquito Depression were often required due to both insufficient irrigation area and winter storage. The upgrade was aimed at enabling zero discharge from the WWTP through the construction of a winter storage, and increased land for irrigation. The challenge adopted by the Authority was to provide a long-term means of managing a wastewater load equivalent to a city of 200,000 people, in an environmentally sustainable way. This challenge involved developing treatment technologies appropriate to high strength waste, implementing appropriate trade waste agreements and initiating long-term reclaimed water reuse agreements with farmers adjacent to the waste management facility. This paper discusses the operational problems experienced, and issues confronted by the Authority in th