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After treatment, Warkworth’s effluent goes into the Mahurangi River. At Snells Beach there is an ocean outfall. Photo credit: Majorlook Productions.
Watercare will spend $1.8 million investigating improved wastewater solutions for Warkworth and Snells Beach this year.
The process will include consultation with stakeholders, the selection of a preferred solution and obtaining the necessary resource consents.
A Watercare spokesperson says the anticipated costs for delivering a long-term wastewater solution will be determined through the resource consent process. Capital investment will be consistent with population growth and resource consents.
About 12 options are being considered. These include expanding both plants using existing or new technology, a new combined treatment plant at Snells Beach using the existing ocean outfall, a new combined plant at Warkworth using the existing discharge to the Mahurangi River or combined treatment at a new location.
Both the Warkworth and the Snells Beach wastewater plants are currently operating under expired resource consents. But Watercare says that both plants continue to operate lawfully under the conditions of those consents.
An early part of the project will involve a range of technical and environmental investigations. These will help assess if the option can be built, what each option may cost and their potential effects on the natural environment and cultural values.
Watercare will seek community feedback early this year on feasible options and by mid-year it hopes to be in a position to present the best practicable option. It will then lodge the necessary consent applications, at which stage formal submissions will be accepted.
The project follows on the heels of a $3 million network upgrade last year that involved installing a new pipeline between the existing Algies Bay pump station in Alexander Road and the Cornel Circle pump station in Snells Beach.
The project involved a new pipeline and the installation of new pumps.
In addition to the Warkworth and Snells-Algies project, Watercare says it is in the early stages of identifying feasible wastewater servicing options for Wellsford.
Residents with an interest in wastewater can sign up for project updates by emailing warkworthsnells@water.co.nz with the subject line ‘sign me up’ or call 09 442 2222.
Current operation
Warkworth and Snells-Algies wastewater treatment facilities were constructed in the early 1980s.
Prior to this, an oxidation pond serviced small subdivisions in Snells Beach and Algies Bay, and older areas used septic tanks or long drops. Warkworth had two communal septic tanks, which were decommissioned in September 1980.
Early wastewater treatment plants were mostly large ponds, where sunlight and microbes did the work of ‘cleaning up’ the wastewater before it was discharged to streams, rivers or the sea. But even this basic treatment was a huge improvement over discharging ‘raw’ sewage into the environment, and helped improve public health in the growing urban and rural communities.
The Warkworth network consists of just over 40km of pipeline, two pump stations and the treatment plant, off Alnwick Street, just below the boatyard. Sewage is collected via a mixed system of gravity and pressurised waste collection. Effluent is discharged into the Mahurangi River immediately downstream of the plant, while sludge is trucked to landfill.
Project information
Information meetings on wastewater disposal options for Warkworth and Snells Beach will be held at the Mahurangi Community Centre on Tuesday March 15, from 4pm to 7pm; and at the Masonic Hall in Warkworth on Thursday March 17, from 4pm to 7pm.
