Advisory: Wastewater Treatment Plant Update

Published: 28 April 2023

Last Updated: 8 May 2023

The Wastewater Treatment Plant work programme is progressing well. Here is the latest update.

The milliscreen, which filters out solid waste, is now operating normally. It has been back online for over three weeks and is working well.

Trade waste is being accepted from the Pandora Industrial Zone. The WWTP is not yet able to take trade waste from Awatoto Industry but the team is working closely with those businesses on a plan for bringing their waste into the plant. This is a priority for the WWTP team.

The WWTP team is still on target to get one of the two biological trickling filters back up and running by the end of July. The plant is able to run as per pre-Cyclone operations with only one BTF. There is bespoke hardware coming from overseas, which hasn’t yet arrived. It’s not standard so it can’t be easily bought ‘off-the-shelf’. These potential supply challenges are being worked through.

Ground and air testing continues and biological contaminants are degrading well.

Odour beds at the plant are being assessed and will be repaired/rehabilitated to the latest comparable standard, which will include odour removing media such as particular types of bark, shell, and bespoke grids and membranes.

Across the works programme, improvements and resilience measures are being built into the plant wherever possible.

It is still important for people to stay out of the water around Awatoto and Waitangi.

Back to News Archive