Welcome to the Hunter Water Website

Edgeworth WWTW

The Edgeworth plant serves the communities of:

  • Charlestown
  • Hillsborough
  • Cardiff
  • Boolaroo
  • Speers Point
  • Glendale
  • Edgeworth
  • Barnsley
  • Killingworth.

It currently treats:

  • 16 megalitres per day

The Edgeworth plant can handle wastewater from a population equivalent to:

  • 70,000 people.

How it works

The activated sludge plant provides secondary treatment of the wastewater and is designed to remove nutrients (nitrogen & phosphorus) and provide some disinfection. The sewage receives screening, de-gritting, flow measurement and odour control at the inlet works. Biological treatment is achieved through a Modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) process following by settling in two secondary clarifiers.

Sludge is wasted from the reactors to the gravity drainage deck where it is thickened and onto a Belt Filter Press (BFP) where is it dewatered.


How is the treated effluent used?

All biosolids produced at the plant are beneficially used for mine site rehabilitation. The dewatered screenings and grit collected is transported off site to landfill.

A nearby coal washery and golf course take up to two megalitres per day of recycled water from the plant for irrigation. The remainder of the treated effluent is discharged via the Lake Macquarie Crossing to the Belmont ocean outfall.