Taupō’s water treatment plant on Lake Terrace is to have its capacity increased from 25 million litres to 30 million litres per day.
The upgrade is part of an expansion programme that was planned for the plant since its construction in 2014. Asset manager water Tom Swindells said that the capacity increase would involve the installation of new pumps, filter modules and supporting mechanical and electrical equipment.
“The increase in capacity will help us keep up with the growth of our district. We are currently in the planning stages of connecting Acacia Bay and Mapara into the Taupō treatment plant, so we have factored in the 1200 connections there and allowed for up to three million litres per day of usage. That change over should come in 2021 and we’re confident we can keep up with demand going forward,” he said.
Mr Swindells said that while the capacity increase involved some major work, it would not impact the community. “The plant will need to be shut down several times while the work is carried out, but this shouldn’t affect the community at all as our network, reservoirs and pumps stations will remain online.” he said.
The work is expected to be completed by October.
Pictured: Asset manager water Tom Swindells, left and team leader water operations Shannon McMillan with a cutaway of one of the filter modules.