Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant update

Wednesday 18 February 

Quick update 

Just a brief update today given the recent weather event – we’ll still send a full newsletter tomorrow as planned.

At this stage the ponds are looking reasonably stable. When the flow of water into the ponds began to rise, the team acted quickly as planned to divert a proportion of flow directly from Pond 1 to Pond 4. We did this based on learnings from previous events with the intention of maintaining the algae levels in Ponds 2A and 2B to support their ongoing recovery.

Algae and dissolved oxygen levels are tracking positively at this stage, which gives us a good level of confidence. That said, these kinds of weather events and high volumes of ran always bring some uncertainty, so we’ll be keeping a close watch over the coming days.

Based on previous experience, we don’t expect the final effluent discharged to the ocean to be affected by the temporary diversion. During wet weather, the incoming flows are heavily diluted, which reduces the likelihood of any impact at the discharge point.

Right now, we’re cautiously confident that with this approach we’re unlikely to see any significant odour generated.

Stay updated

We want everyone to be able to stay updated on what's happening at the Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant, and we regularly post new information on ccc.govt.nz/wastewaterfire 

You're welcome to send this update to your networks. If you know someone in the community who doesn’t have email or internet access, please print this newsletter off and pass it to them.

If you know of anyone who would like to receive this e-newsletter they can subscribe online. 

If you have any questions, or would like further information on the project, please call us on 03 941 8999 or 0800 800 169 or email wastewater@ccc.govt.nz  

Thanks for your patience and understanding. We’ll be in touch again soon.