State-of-the-art upgrade for Maungaturoto wastewater treatment

Ground works have begun for a state-of-the-art upgrade of Maungaturoto’s Wastewater Treatment Plant which will meet tough new consent standards and can be expanded to cater for future growth.

Existing treatment does not meet current consent conditions and has been a concern for a number of years. After studying a number of options, Kaipara District Council decided to add a membrane filtration system to the existing oxidation pond which will polish the pond effluent to a high standard with very low levels of bacteria and other pathogens.

The membrane filtration process involves passing effluent from the oxidation pond through a specially designed porous material, formed into long spaghetti-like tubes. Contaminants like suspended solids, and most bacteria and viruses cannot pass through and are collected and returned to the oxidation pond. Treated wastewater will be held in a new pond for discharge during the first two hours of an outgoing tide.

Preparations for the upgrade have involved several months of testing and study plus the acquisition of land from the Maungaturoto Country Club to enable the membrane filtration plant and new storage pond to be built on higher ground than the present oxidation pond site and out of the flood plane. Consents, valid for 24 years, have also been obtained

Kaipara based Harrison Contracting Limited was awarded the contract for civil works, including building a new access road and storage pond, preparing the site for installation of the membrane filtration plant and raising the wall of the pond to provide addition storage.

Harrison Contracting moved on site just before Labour Weekend and most of the civil work is expected to be completed by Christmas.

Canadian Pacific Limited has the contract to provide and install the membrane filtration plant and this will be done during January and February, with the plant being commissioned at the end of February. It will then be performance tested for a further two months.

The upgrade comes at a cost to Maungaturoto ratepayers who have seen their wastewater charges almost double from $368.00 per annum to $720.00.

Kaipara Mayor Neil Tiller, Councillor Brian McEwing, who holds the Council’s existing wastewater portfolio, and local Councillor Graham Taylor are delighted that long standing problems with Maungaturoto’s wastewater treatment are finally being solved.

“It’s something that had to happen even though it means that wastewater charges are going to almost double as a result,” Mayor Tiller says.

“The resource consent has been expired for 11 years and the level of pollution downstream is just not acceptable today.”

Councillor McEwing, is pleased that Northland Regional Council allowed time for a cost effective solution to be found.

“People are starting to see Maungaturoto as a town to come to and this will allow our community to continue to grow and develop” Councillor Taylor says.