As small coastal town, Waiinu, struggled to cope with an aging failed wastewater treatment plant, South Taranaki District Council were dealing with a growing number of odour complaints from residents.
The popular holiday spot, 50 minutes’ drive south of Hawera, sees its population swell over summer. As well as affecting residents, the odour problem was not making for happy campers at the adjacent camp ground.
John Bradford, Hynds Project Manager – Commercial Waste Water, and his team were asked to find a solution to the odorous situation which was made more difficult by a couple of challenges.
“We recommended the installation of a new treatment plant which would meet the town’s growing requirements. Being a coastal location, we were working to very strict resource consent compliance conditions on the proposed new plant which would require a high level of performance including phosphorus removal and UV treatment,” says John.
“That, combined with the existing plant needing to be decommissioned during the installation of the new plant, without affecting the 30 occupied homes, meant we had to navigate the situation very carefully.”
The order for the 30m3 Eloy Oxyfix Wastewater tanks was managed through Hygrade, with the 220-tonne delivery of 26 tanks shipped from Eloy Water in Belgium. Hynds Manukau assisted with the necessary MPI approvals and stored the tanks prior to delivery to the site. Working with Hynds’ contractors, the tanks were installed over a three-month period.
The result is the largest Eloy treatment plant installed in Australasia.
Not only does the new system allow for seasonal population fluctuations but a huge bonus is that it can be operated remotely.
“A high level of design and remote monitoring via radio frequency provides real time data to the Council’s system in Hawera meaning that the entire plant can be operated remotely instead of making the two-hour return trip,” says John.
“The Council is delighted with the new efficiencies of the plant and the time saving factor to operate it.”
