Say goodbye to the poo ponds
As the streetscapes is completed, another is infrastructure project about to get underway.
Stage three of the work to upgrade Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant is set to start in August 2023.
QLDC General Manager Property & Infrastructure, Tony Avery says the $37.5 million project will further improve wastewater capacity in the district and provide for future growth through to the year 2048.
"These upgrades will see the construction of a second Modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) reactor and clarifier down by Shotover Delta, and a range of new equipment, technology and supporting infrastructure to help keep the district’s pipes flowing," he says.
The current treatment process using residual oxidation pond systems - which everyone knows as 'the poo ponds' - will no longer be required once work is complete, with the new process handled by the two MLE reactors.
Avery says treating wastewater with the reactors would ensure long-term compliance as more people chose to make the Whakatipu Basin their home, helping to protect the environment and meeting tighter effluent consent limits if required by Otago Regional Council (ORC) in the future.
"Furthermore, one of the existing oxidation ponds on site will be repurposed as part of the works, with a portion to be used as a basin for improved stormwater management on site.
"Another area will be converted to act as a calamity storage pond for the extremely rare occasion when the treatment plant might go offline unexpectedly."
The plant serves Queenstown, Arthurs Point, Frankton, Kelvin Heights, Quail Rise, Shotover Country, Lake Hayes Estate, Lake Hayes, and Arrowtown.
Once complete, it will receive additional wastewater flows from Jacks Point Village, Hanley Farm, Ladies Mile and an extension of the Quail Rise residential development area.
Contractor McConnell Dowell expects to complete the work by late 2025, before commissioning of the new plant infrastructure follows in early 2026.
