Northland council tackles effluent spills

A $4.4 million contract has been let to expand and upgrade a Northland sewage treatment plant responsible for overflow spills of partly treated effluent into the Kawakawa River and the Bay of Islands this year.

Work under the contract, let to Whitaker Civil Engineering, will double treatment capacity at the Kawakawa sewage plant from 800 to 1600cu m a day to meet Northland Regional Council consent requirements.

The project will also involve upgrades to filter and ultraviolet disinfection systems, enlarge pumping and electrical systems, and increase pipe networks servicing the plant.

The Far North District Council says work is expected to start early next year and take six to eight months.

Government subsidies, council capital reserves and a $2.9 million loan will pay for the project.

In July this year, controlled and uncontrolled spills of partly treated sewage and effluent flowed into the Kawakawa River from the plant after heavy rain, closing oyster farms in the Upper Waikare Inlet in the Bay of Islands.

District council utilities manager Peter Johnson said the new work would "significantly improve the quality of effluent discharge" from the plant into the river.