Te Awamutu Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade

Te Awamutu is growing and we’re expecting to hit a population of 18,500 people by the year 2050. To help cater for this growth, the Te Awamutu Wastewater Treatment Plant needs to be upgraded. The plant will also cater for flows from the Waikeria Prison wastewater pipeline.

We’re spending approximately $13 million on wastewater plant upgrades in the Waipa district in the upcoming year, with an overall budget of $27.9 million highlighted in the 2015-25 Long-Term Plan. The Te Awamutu wastewater treatment plant is one project in a number of planned upgrades to the wastewater network across the Waipā district.

To date, we’ve completed Stage 1 & 2 of a four-stage upgrade, which included obtaining new resource consents and making upgrades to the dewatering plant.

We’re now at Stage, 3 which objective is to increase the treatment capacity and improve treatment processes so we treat wastewater to a higher standard, meeting new resource consent requirements. We expect to complete construction and commissioning early in 2021.

Stage 4 will be undertaken in approximately 10 years’ time, when we will move the aeration process into a new area on the site, forming a more efficient treatment facility that can cater for the growth beyond 2030. Once this is in place, the existing aeration ponds will no longer be required.

Progress updates

March - June 2021

The Te Awamutu Wastewater Treatment Plant construction is now fully complete and the team is working on optimising the plant throughout June, ready for it to be in full operation in July 2021.

January - February 2021

Over the last two months, we put the finishing touches on the upgraded plant, completing the final electrical and telemetry works, removing old screens and the old flume, and calibrated the new UV system. We also began preparing the site for perimeter planting, spread metal throughout the site for accessibility and carried out a site clean up and removal of contractors equipment. The next few months will be focused on calibrating the plant for optimal operation.

October-December 2020

Testing the new generator and commissioning the new items continued, with a main focus on the inlet works. Our electrical and communication equipment is in it’s final stages and we are preparing the site with metaling of areas, installing the stormwater system and undertaking ground preparation for planting around the site perimeter. The refurbishment of the old clarifier is now scheduled for after the new year, following additional remedial work on the new clarifier.

September 2020

The majority of construction has been completed at the Te Awamutu Wastewater Plant with connections between bypass piping and installations of mechanical and electrical equipment continuing. Water testing has also started to take place in stages. This complex process is a key part of making sure new upgraded areas are compliant before turning them on. UV treatment has passed this first stage and is now in use, with water testing and completion of works on the inlet area still to take place.

In order to make the area safer for contractors and people, we have also installed fencing and metal chip seal for safe crossing.

Here are some photos of the newly installed equipment

June 2020

Great progress continues on the Te Awamutu Wastewater Treatment Plant with the new clarifier (large round structure) passing its water test. The platform is being constructed at present and a separate crew will be installing the mechanical elements in the coming weeks.

Excavations have also started for the new underground pipes which will connect between the clarifier and UV treatment area.

February 2020

The clarifier starting to take shape.

November 2020

Laying the foundations of the new clarifier.

What's new at the plant?

Within the upgraded wastewater treatment plant, we are using current best-practice technology with new screens to remove solids larger than 3 mm in size, a second clarifier, additional aeration and a new UV system that will sterilize the treated wastewater. The treated wastewater then goes through a rock filter to slow the flow prior to meeting the receiving environment.

Background

The Te Awamutu WWTP was upgraded in the early 2000s to a modern Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) plant with clarifier and UV disinfection that replaced the earlier oxidation pond-based system. Previous environmental and technical studies have shown that the existing discharge has no significant adverse effects on the ecology and water quality of the Mangapiko Stream.

The upgrades focus on providing additional treatment capacity over time whilst also replacing/upgrading existing assets in a staged manner. They will also ensure the plant can continue to meet resource consent conditions whilst responding to the population, commercial and industrial growth requirements of the Waikato Regional Policy Statement, Future Proof and Waipa 2050.

The plant improvements are consistent with Te Ture Whaimana o te Awa o Waikato, the Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River; and with Tai Tumu Tai Pari Tai Ao, the Waikato-Tainui Environmental Plan; whilst also understanding and considering any other matters of interest/concern to tāngata whenua.