Kurri Kurri WWTW
The Kurri Kurri Wastewater Treatment Works serves the communities of:
- Abermain
- Weston
- Kurri Kurri
- Stanford Merthyr
- Pelaw Main
- Heddon Greta
- Cliftleigh
Industrial sewage from ALCAN aluminium smelter and Kurri Kurri TAFE is also treated at the works.
It currently treats:
The Kurri Kurri plant can handle wastewater from a population equivalent to:
How it works
Kurri Kurri plant provides tertiary treatment using an activated sludge process followed by tertiary filtration. The plant is designed to remove nutrients (nitrogen & phosphorus) and to provide a high level of disinfection.
As illustrated in the process flow diagram, the plant consists of:
- A septic receival station
- Two mechanical step screens
- A manually raked bar screen
- A washpactor
- A raw sewage pumping station
- A vortex grit removal chamber
- A bache classifier
- A soil bed filter
- A biological reactor
- Two circular clarifiers
- A filter lift pump station
- A tertiary filter
- Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection
- Ferrous chloride dosing for chemical phosphorus removal
- Alum dosing for phosphorus trimming
- Sodium hydroxide dosing for alkalinity correction
- A gravity drainage deck
- A intermittently pumped aerobic digester
- A centrifuge
- A reclaimed effluent pump station
- An emergency sludge lagoon.
How is the treated effluent used?
Recycled water from the plant is used for:
- grit and screening washing
- general washdown around the plant
- irrigating the grounds.
One of the maturation ponds from the previous trickling filter plant has been converted to an effluent storage pond, and Kurri Kurri TAFE pumps up to 400 Kilolitres of effluent per day from this pond for irrigation.
Unused effluent is discharged to Swamp Creek - the Kurri Kurri Golf Club pumps up to 370 Kilolitres of treated effluent per day from Swamp Creek immediately downstream of the discharge point for irrigation. As effluent reuse is primarily for irrigation, demands can be much lower during winter due to increased rainfall.
Continuous biosolids production is provided at the plant and all biosolids produced are beneficially used for pasture improvement on broad acre farming properties.