The new Opal Drive Pump Station is a key project within our planned wastewater services upgrade in Pāpāmoa.
It's also a key pump station in our wider wastewater network. It pumps the majority of wastewater flows from the eastern and central Pāpāmoa area and Wairākei Urban Growth Area through to the Te Maunga wastewater treatment plant.
The existing Opal Drive Pump Station is aging and does not have capacity for future flows. It's also a former package treatment plant that was converted to a pump station in 1991. We're investing in this vital pump station to make sure we have a resilient wastewater service for the Pāpāmoa East community.
Latest update - 14 November
We are preparing to start the next phase of work constructing the ground improvements and foundation piles for the new pump station. Sheet piling and drilling works are scheduled to start the week of 25 November and will take until mid-March to complete. Work will be paused during the Christmas and New Year period. Both the movement of machinery and the piling itself will cause some vibration and noise for residents in the area.
Short road closures lasting up to 20 minutes will be required the week before, starting 18 November, to deliver heavy machinery needed for this next phase. These closures will take place between 9am and 2pm, to minimise impacts on school drop-off and pick-ups.
- Motorists will be diverted via Doncaster Avenue, Domain Road and Topaz Drive.
- Residents in the immediate vicinity as well as pedestrians and cyclists will need to wait for access until the closure is lifted.
We thank you for your patience while this essential work takes place.
What’s included in the Opal Drive Pump Station project
The works include:
- Earthworks to install the new pump station and storage tanks
- Pipeline realignments/construction in the road and storm water reserve
- Construction of a generator and control buildings
- Construction of a biofilter for odour control
- Construction of two additional storm water culverts across Opal Drive where it crosses the storm water reserve (more information below)
We’re constructing the new Opal Drive Pump Station on council-owned land at 45 Opal Drive next to the current station.
We expect to find a range of contaminants in wastewater, including heavy metals, PFAS and microplastics. Given the historical use of the Opal Drive site for wastewater disposal, we carried out an analysis of the soil at the site prior to work starting. We found contaminants as we would expect in the soil at this site. Whilst concentrations of these are below human and environmental health limits, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Tauranga City Council are taking a cautious approach to this work in accordance with national best practice.
We're conscious we're working in a residential area, so we're taking extra care to keep the area clean and tidy, and to look after the environment when moving/storing this soil. During this process we are following guidelines provided by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
Once we are certain the new station is complete and ready for use, we will decommission the old pump station and safely dismantle it before remediating the site – this will be a separate project.
We expect the Opal Drive Pump Station project will take around 18 months to complete.
Additional storm water culverts
As part of the Opal Drive Pump Station project, we will build two new storm water culverts, which are pipelines under the ground. This project will provide additional capacity for stormwater flows in the Wairakei stream.
The Opal Drive culverts have been scheduled to be completed at the same time as the Opal Drive Pump Station because we need to dig up the road to lay pipes to the new pump station. Combining the two activities at the same time will help to minimise the disruption to the community.
These works are likely to get underway from the second half of 2024. This will involve the closure of Opal Drive for an extended period, with detours in place. We will work with our contractor to minimise the disruption and expect to be able to maintain pedestrian access from one side of Opal Drive to the other.
Soil storage at Topaz Reserve
To make room for the new storage tanks and pump infrastructure at the site, approximately 3400m3 of soil needs to be dug up. There is not enough room to store this soil on site. Following extensive discussion with Bay of Plenty Regional Council while preparing the resource consent application, it was determined the best course of action was to temporarily stockpile the material at Topaz Reserve and return it to the pump station site as backfill around the pump station underground structures. This soil will then be put back into the site as backfill around the storage tanks and pump infrastructure. We're conscious we're working in a residential area, so we're taking extra care to keep the area clean and tidy, and to look after the environment when moving and storing this soil.
What is wastewater?
Wastewater is the water we use in our homes and workplaces. Each time you flush the toilet, pull the plug from a sink, or have a shower, that water drains into a wastewater pipe on your property. The pipeline on your property connects to the wastewater network, which carries the water safely to a treatment plant where the water is treated (cleaned) and then released.
What’s next?
Shortly after we complete works on the Opal Drive Pump Station, we’ll start construction on the Wairākei Pump Station. Situated close to Golden Sands Primary and against the school boundary, this is a designated site for the pump station. We expect the build time to take around 12-15 months and due to the challenge of accessing the site this may cause some disruption to the roads and accessways along the reserve. These works are all part of our Pāpāmoa Wastewater Masterplan.
