Paxton Wastewater Treatment Works
The Paxton Wastewater Treatment Works serves the townships of Paxton, Ellalong and Millfield.
It currently treats 430 kilolitres per day and can handle wastewater for up to 3,200 people.
Operation
The Paxton Wastewater Treatment Works provides tertiary treatment of wastewater using a membrane bioreactor (MBR) process, which is designed to remove nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) and provide some disinfection.
It provides tertiary treatment of the wastewater by the following process:
- Mechanical screening
- Membrane bioreactor
- Catch pond
- An aerobic digester
- Two sludge lagoons
- Chemical dosing
- Effluent-irrigated tree plantation
Recycling and reuse
Up to 150 kilolitres per day of recycled water from the Paxton Wastewater Treatment Works is used to irrigate the on-site plantation during summer days. Over the winter months, less recycled water can be re-used to irrigate the plantation due to a higher rainfall. Any unused treated effluent is released to Congewai Creek.
The biosolids produced are beneficially used for mine site rehabilitation or agricultural pasture improvement projects.
At Hunter Water, we recycle approximately 5,000 megalitres of effluent per year. Learn more about our recycling and reuse initiatives.
Environmental Licence Monitoring
Pollution monitoring data is collected by Hunter Water, as required under the Environment Protection Licences (EPL) issued by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).