Napier’s new wastewater treatment plant takes shape

Napier’s $30m advanced wastewater treatment plant is starting to take shape at Awatoto.

Construction work is now out of the ground, with concrete panels going up to form the structure of the pump station for the biological trickling filter (BTF) plant.

The large concrete structures of the project have been split into four contracts. Pump station contractor Alexander Construction is precasting the wall panels on and offsite and these are being erected on the base slab to form the structure for the main effluent pump station in Waitangi Road.

Further contracts have been awarded to progress the BTF plant, among the biggest projects ever undertaken by the Napier City Council.

One of these is for the supply and installation of grit removal equipment using a vortex system to spin grit out of the flow for removal offsite.

The company that constructed Gisborne’s BTF plant, Tauranga-based HEB Structures has been awarded the civil contract to build the two BTF tanks. at a cost of $2.6 million. The 60-plus panels needed are to be constructed in Auckland and transported to Napier. This contract also includes the installation of process and ventilation pipework plus the installation of a hardwood timber subfloor.

Meanwhile, HEB Structures has established equipment and an office on the Awatoto site and begun excavating for the tank floors.

Sheets of plastic over which the effluent will trickle are currently being manufactured in Germany before they are welded into modules onsite. The first shipment of plastic is due to arrive in Napier mid-September.

Pump supply company Xylem is sourcing four large main pumps from Sweden and two smaller recirculation pumps from China. Due in December, these will be installed in the BTF pump station by a separate mechanical contractor.

Other contracts awarded cover:
. supply and installation of industrial screens
. supply and delivery of valves
. 5.5km of sustainably harvested and milled hardwood timber is en route from
West Africa
. supply and installation of six penstocks for the pump station

A contract is to be awarded shortly to supply and deliver electromagnetic flow meters needed around the new BTF plant. Two of these will measure the flow into each BTF tank, one will measure the flow from the recirculation pump station and three will be used on industrial effluent pipelines.

ENDS

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