Wastewater treatment plant tour a lesson in sustainability
“False teeth, a $50 note and an iPhone 16!”
Nine-year-old Sienna was blown away by what gets flushed down the loo and ends up in our wastewater treatment plant filter.
Sienna and her friends from St Patrick's Catholic School, Taupō loved their visit to the Taupō wastewater and water treatment plants last week.
The tamariki had a behind the scenes tour of our drinking water treatment plant on Lake Terrace to see how water from our lake is cleaned and made safe before coming out of the tap. They also visited the wastewater treatment plant near Cherry Island to see what happens to the nasties that get flushed down the loo and the sink.
A highlight for Sienna was hearing about what happens to the toilet waste after it’s processed.
“The solids are sent to a worm farm to feed the worms. The liquids are used by council farms to water their grass.”
Sounds crazy – but she’s right! We work with the amazing team at MyNoke who turn your de-watered poop waste into high grade fertiliser.
The processed liquid (previously pee, toilet flush and sink water) is used as irrigation on our Taupō District Council-owned farms to grow grass. This is then turned into bales of silage for farmers outside the district. Pretty cool right?
Sienna’s top tips for looking after our wai:
- wash your car on the grass – not on the concrete
- water your grass and plants with your sprinklers but not the path
- turn off the tap when you are brushing your teeth
- be careful what goes down the grate because it ends up in our lake
- and don’t flush silly things down the toilet or sink, especially wet wipes and iPhone 16s!
