Kaitāia Wastewater Treatment Plant
The Kaitāia wastewater treatment plant is located adjacent to Awanui River, near Bonnetts Road. This plant treats wastewater from Kaitāia and Awanui, and septic waste transferred by trucks from the northern towns of the Far North District. A portion of this wastewater is the industrial waste generated by Juken New Zealand Ltd (JNL Mill). The plant serves about 2500 properties and processes about 2400 cubic metres of wastewater a day.
Treating the Wastewater
Treatment currently consists of a septage receiving system, an inlet screen, an oxidation pond, two baffled maturation ponds, a floating wetland, and a sludge drying bed. The treatment process takes about 30 days. The treated effluent is discharged to the Awanui River.
Monitoring
Discharges from the wastewater treatment plant are authorised by a resource consent. The resource consent sets out certain conditions, such as the requirement to regularly monitor the treated wastewater. There was three sampling points: at the plant outlet, upstream of the discharge to Awanui River, and downstream of the discharge to Awanui River.
