Business Central September 2021

| 17 DEVELOPMENT Plant upgrade on track for Christmas T T Richard Loader The project’s scope includes upgrading the existing treatment plant to a membrane based wastewater treatment plant. Spartan Construction / Taupo Council: Kinloch Upgrade T T to page 18 D espite challenges faced by the project team, the Taupo District Council’s ma- jor upgrade to its Kinloch wastewater plant remains on track for completion before Christmas this year. The project’s scope includes upgrading the existing treatment plant to a membrane based wastewater treatment plant, commonly referred to as MBR or membrane bioreactor. MBR is a combination of a membrane process like microfiltration or ultrafiltration and a bio - logical wastewater treatment process. While some of the plant’s existing features such as the storage tank are being retained, much of the plant is being replaced in the $15.5 million upgrade. Mike Cordell, the Taupo District Council’s Asset Manager says one of the challenges with the existing site is that it has a relatively small footprint and that means intensifying it to get more treatment out of the same footprint. “It’s a more compact treatment but to a higher standard. The key driver for the project is growth in the Kinloch community, resulting in more wastewater. “There’s a lot more housing going into the township and with that growth comes a re- quirement for a higher standard of wastewa- ter treatment to stay within the environmental limits from a consent point of view. “We’re also in a restricted nitrogen catch- ment and that’s largely why the environmental limits are set. “Once the wastewater has been processed it’s used to irrigate a Council owned public golf course through a series of sub-surface dripper “It’s a more compact treatment but to a higher standard. The key driver for the project is growth in the Kinloch community, resulting in more wastewater.” lines. But ultimately ground water ends up in the lake.” Mike says the upgraded wastewater treat- ment plant will have the capacity to service over 1600 homes with further expansion options available if required. Design work for the project commenced about 18 months ago while onsite construc- tion began February this year. While overall completion will be February/March next year the upgraded plant is required to be opera- tional before Christmas this year. Mike says the project’s tight time frame, which had to occur within 10 months between peak seasons and taking half the plant off-line just after Easter, was the first challenge.