Morpeth WWTW
The Morpeth Wastewater Treatment Works serves the communities of:
- Maitland
- East Maitland
- Tenambit
- Metford
- Morpeth
- Thornton
- Beresfield
- Tarro.
It currently treats:
The Morpeth plant can handle wastewater from a population equivalent to:
How it works
The Morpeth plant provides secondary treatment using an activated sludge process. The plant is designed to biologically remove nutrients (nitrogen & phosphorus) and to provide a high level of disinfection. As illustrated in the process flow diagram, the plant consists of:
- Two mechanical step screens
- A manually raked bar screen
- An inlet lift pumping station
- A vortex grit removal tank
- A grit classifier
- A soil bed filter for odour control
- A biological reactor (anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic)
- Two circular clarifiers
- Ultra-violet (UV) disinfection
- Two gravity drainage decks
- An aerobic digester
- Two belt filter presses
- A lime clarifier
- An effluent pumping station
- Four maturation ponds (retained from old WWTW for habitat and effluent reuse storage).
How is the treated effluent used?
Continuous biosolids production is provided at Morpeth plant and all biosolids produced are beneficially used for mine site rehabilitation.
Recycled water from the plant is used for:
- grit and screening washing
- general washdown around the plant
- grounds irrigation.
A nearby farmer, golf course and trotting track also take effluent from the plant for irrigation.
One of the maturation ponds retained after the previous trickling filter plant was decommissioned is currently used as an effluent storage pond for reuse customers, enabling up to 3 Megalitres per day of effluent to be reused through summer. As effluent reuse is primarily for irrigation, demands can be much lower during winter due to increased rainfall.
Unused treated effluent is discharged to the Hunter River.