Russell Wastewater Treatment Plant

Plant overview

The Russell wastewater treatment plant is located approximately 1 kilometre to the south east of Russell Township, between Florance Avenue and Uruiti Road.  The plant treats wastewater from the Russell and Tapeka Point communities, as well as a small volume of leachate from the Russell landfill. There are approximately 550 connections to the scheme.

Treating the wastewater

In Russell wastewater is treated mechanically in an above ground system, and the entire system is automated. 
Wastewater is pumped to the wastewater treatment plant where solids larger than 10mm are screened from the wastewater. The wastewater is then distributed between two sequencing batch reactor (SBR) tanks, where liquid is separated from solids. The liquid then is decanted into a series of settlement ponds before being filtered through sand to prepare the wastewater for disinfection through an ultra-violet light (UV light) unit. UV light mimics the natural process that sunlight provides by destroying the DNA of bacteria and viruses so that they cannot replicate.
The final treated wastewater is discharged to land via a series of deep bores across a ridge line above the treatment plant.  The image below is a 1998 photo of the discharge sites, prior to the construction of the treatment plant and deep bores.

Monitoring

The discharges from the treatment plant are authorised by a resource consent. You can read a copy of the resource consent here.

Documents

Location

6140 Russell Whakapara Road, Russell 0272  View Map