Burwood Beach Wastewater Treatment Works Upgrade
The Burwood Beach Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) is Hunter Water’s largest wastewater treatment facility, treating an average daily flow of 44 million litres and servicing approximately 180,000 people (25% of Hunter Water customers).
The Burwood Beach plant is unique in that it is the only WWTW in Australia to discharge both effluent and biosolids to ocean. These streams are discharged from the plant to the Pacific Ocean via a 1.5 km long ocean outfall.
The Burwood Beach WWTW catchment extends from the Newcastle City area and suburbs to Dudley in the south, Wallsend in the west and Mayfield in the north. The current Burwood Beach WWTW was constructed in 1992 with a design capacity of 220,000 equivalent persons (EP).
Planning for the Burwood Beach WWTW Upgrade commenced in 2005. A Community Reference Group (CRG) was formed in July 2007 to provide guidance on the issues of concern to the community that should be addressed in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project.
A Staged Approach
A staged approach to upgrading the Burwood Beach WWTW has been adopted:
Odour Control Upgrade
A $4 million upgrade of the odour control system has recently been commissioned to minimise the risk of odour impacts on adjacent residents. Find out more >>
Stage 2 Upgrade
The $43 million Stage 2 Upgrade is currently being constructed to ensure the plant can reliably meet the existing licence conditions and operate to its design capacity. Find out more >>
Health Risk Assessment
Hunter Water has released the findings of a Health Risk Assessment which confirmed there are negligible health impacts from biosolids released from the Burwood Beach WWTW and recommended the minimal potential health impact of effluent disposal could be improved through state-of-the-art UV technology. Find out more >>
Stage 3 Upgrade
Hunter Water is now planning for the Stage 3 Upgrade, which will focus on further works that are required to meet the longer term needs of the community and other stakeholders. Sustainable effluent and biosolids management will be considered as part of the upgrade. Community consultation will continue throughout the project. Find out more >>
Fact Sheets
Plans and Photos