Our Wastewater Network

Waipukurau

The piped wastewater network collects wastewater from the residential, commercial and industrial areas of Waipukurau and carries it to the treatment facility on Mt Herbert Road. The 41-kilometre reticulation network includes:

• 1 main pump station on Mt Herbert Road,
• 4 lift pump stations (Svenson, Redwood, Takapau and Harris),
• 1,920 connections,
• 524 manholes,
• pipes sized 100 mm to 600 mm, and
• a range of pipework materials, including glazed earthenware, uPVC, concrete, asbestos cement, steel and galvanised iron.

Wastewater is collected at the main pump station on Mt Herbert Road, adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant. The treatment plant was constructed in 1975 as a single-stage oxidation pond, with pre-treatment provided by an Imhoff tank, which has since been removed. There have been a number of changes to the treatment process, and the wastewater is now pumped into a series of three ponds - an anaerobic pond, a balance pond then a facultative pond - where the contaminants in the wastewater are sequentially reduced. The effluent from the facultative pond is then polished through lamella settlers with the addition of chemicals, UV irradiated and discharged into the Tukituki River.

You can learn more about what our efforts to strengthen Waipukurau's wastewater treatment system, and to introduce land discharge and cease discharging treated wastewater into our rivers through our wastewater project work.  

Waipawa

The piped wastewater network collects wastewater from the residential, commercial and industrial areas of Waipawa and delivers it via a gravity and pumped sewer system to the pump station at the oxidation pond off Pourerere Road, 1.5 kilometres east of Waipawa.

The 23.2-kilometre reticulation network includes:

• 845 connections,
• 7 lamp holes
• 186 manholes,
• pipes sized 100 mm to 450 mm, and
• a range of pipe materials, including earthenware, uPVC, concrete and asbestos cement.

The treatment plant was constructed in 1967 as single stage oxidation pond but has had a number of upgrades made to it since then. From the pump station at the inlet, wastewater is pumped up into the oxidation pond, where aerators have been installed in the pond to aid treatment and provide flow direction through the pond. The oxidation pond is currently divided into two treatment areas to maximise performance.  

The effluent from the pond is then pumped through sand filters with the addition of chemicals, UV irradiated and discharged into Bush Drain.

You can learn more about what our efforts to strengthen Waipawa's wastewater treatment network, and to introduce land discharge and cease discharging treated wastewater into our rivers through our wastewater project work.  

Ōtāne, Pōrangahau, Takapau and Te Paerahi (Pōrangahau Beach)

The wastewater networks in these townships discharge by gravity or pump stations into oxidation ponds. These ponds have aerators to aid the biological process of treating the wastewater

Future-proofing our wastewater systems

Our wastewater team has worked to develop cultural, environmental and engineering aspirations for the district's new and improved wastewater infrastructure. But this comes with a significant cost, anticipated to be approximately $66 million for the entire project. While the projected costs are significant for a small rural council, if we work hard now to build wastewater infrastructure the way we want to, Central Hawke’s Bay will be in a much stronger position to build on these upgrades and use our waste as a resource into the future.