Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant refurbishment work underway

Wellington Water, on behalf of Wellington City Council, is continuing its programme of maintenance and refurbishment of the clarifier tanks at the Council’s Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant. This is part of efforts to enhance the plant’s performance and safeguard the environment.

The Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant processes and disinfects wastewater for approximately 180,000 residents in Wellington City. With much of the plant’s equipment nearing the end of its operational life, Wellington Water is undertaking maintenance to ensure the ongoing efficiency and reliability of this essential infrastructure for the city.

Wellington Water’s Group Manager, Network Management Group, Jeremy McKibbin, emphasised the importance of this work.

“The Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant is aging, and maintenance activities are vital to improving the plant’s performance, ensuring it operates at an optimal level, and reducing the plant’s environmental impact.”

The work involves:

• Refurbishment and replacement of key mechanical components in the plant’s clarifier tanks. Clarifiers are large tanks that separate sludge from the wastewater and are a critical part of the wastewater treatment process at the plant.
• Replacing some of the pipes at the plant’s inlet pump station. A pump station is a building that contains pumps and their related equipment, transporting wastewater up to the treatment plant for processing.

While this work is underway the plant’s treatment capacity will be reduced as equipment will need to remain offline to enable the work to be undertaken.

“The remaining two clarifiers can generally handle normal summer flow levels. However, if we get significant rainfall during this time, we do expect there to be an increased risk of discharge of untreated wastewater from the pump station to the short outfall pipe at Tarakena Bay,” Jeremy adds.

“While we acknowledge that this is not ideal, it is important that this essential work is completed. Doing so will increase the resilience of the plant, reduce the risk of equipment failure and, in turn, reduce the likelihood of unconsented discharges from the treatment plant in the future.”

“We are doing all we can to minimise the impact on the environment and community while we undertake this work,” says Jeremy. “We’ve taken a phased approach with this maintenance programme to ensure the continued safe operation of the plant and have scheduled the work to occur at the same time to minimise the time the plant will have to operate at a reduced capacity. Additionally, to minimise environmental risks, we have planned the work for the drier months of autumn and summer, when lower water levels reduce the likelihood of discharges.”

“We thank the community for their understanding as we carry out this work. This is an important part of our commitment to protecting and improving the mauri (health and wellbeing) of wai (water), ensuring the safety of Wellington’s harbour, streams, coastlines, and communities,” says Jeremy.

ENDS

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