Belmont wastewater treatment works upgrade

The Belmont wastewater plant serves properties on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie from Charlestown/Dudley to Caves Beach and west to Warners Bay. Initially commissioned in 1982, with a further major upgrade in 1998, the plant needs additional capacity to cater for predicted population growth within its catchment.

Over the last several years Hunter Water has been progressively implementing a major program of works within the wastewater network around Lake Macquarie aimed at reducing the frequency and severity of overflows into Lake Macquarie during wet weather. One consequence of this has been the need to pump additional flows out through the Belmont plant during wet weather.

Environmental checks done first

In 2003 Hunter Water completed a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) for the overall upgrade at Belmont plant (including the additional wet weather flows as well as the proposed additional capacity required to cater for population growth). This concluded that the plant can be augmented without significant impacts on the environment.

Staged approach

Over the past two years Hunter Water has completed two major construction projects associated with the Belmont plant at a cost of $8 million.
The first was to increase the capacity of the ocean outfall by extending it a further 66m and increasing the number of diffusers (openings) on the end of the outfall.

On land a significant contract has recently been completed to increase the wet weather flow capacity of the plant and the installation of pumps in the header tank at the start of the ocean outfall. Combined, these two construction projects have significantly increased the ability of the Belmont plant to handle the high flows that occur during wet weather.

Current work

The third and largest stage of the project, which is a $20 million upgrade of nearly all the processing units at the Belmont plant, began in 2006. This aims to increase treatment capacity from the current 85,000 equivalent population (or 20 Million Litres/day) to 115,000 equivalent population (or 28 Million Litres/day).

The work will be programmed so that the treatment process is maintained throughout the construction thus ensuring that the quality of effluent discharged through the ocean outfall continues to satisfy the requirements of the Environment Protection Licence issued for the plant by the Department of Environment and Conservation.

Once the upgrade is completed, which is expected to be in the second half of 2008, Belmont plant will have the capacity to treat and dispose of wastewater from the increasing population in the area for the next 15 to 20 years.