Hastings Wastewater Treatment Plant

Unlike other municipal wastewater treatment plants, which traditionally use primary and secondary treatment incorporating clarifiers, we designed a modified biological trickling filter (BTF) process without primary or secondary clarifiers.

The organic loaded BTF transforms human waste and works to minimize the amount of excess biomass, which is then discharged through a rock-lined channel to a 2.75-kilometre (1.7 miles) long offshore ocean outfall. This eliminates the need for any sludge treatment and subsequent disposal, and is a first for New Zealand. The treatment process also involves fine screening of the waste before pumping into the two 37-metre (approx. 122 feet) diameter BTF structures, where the screened wastewater slowly trickles through a 10 metre (32.8 feet) depth of randomly packed plastic media. Wastewater is transformed into biomass, carbon dioxide and water, and meets Maori requirements for treatment of human waste.

This unique $30 million Hastings wastewater treatment plant has proven itself to be leading edge, technically robust, cost-effective and culturally acceptable. By separating the industrial wastewater flows from the domestic flows and developing the treatment solution in partnership with Maori, we created an innovative solution that has resulted in a paradigm shift in wastewater planning and treatment.

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Working "shoulder-to-shoulder" with local Māori for a culturally-sound wastewater solution