We have submitted an application to Auckland Council to designate the land at 372 Glenbrook Beach Rd for wastewater treatment purposes.
Resource consenting manager Tanvir Bhamji says the application is an important step on the journey to creating a new wastewater servicing scheme for the growing region.
“Over the next 30 years, the population of Waiuku, Clarks Beach, Glenbrook and Kingseat is expected to more than double.
“The small treatment plants that serve these rural communities weren’t designed to serve so many people, so we’ll be changing the way we collect and treat wastewater in the south-west region.
“We’ll be building a new wastewater treatment plant and new conveyance pipelines linking our Waiuku, Glenbrook, Clarks Beach and Kingseat communities.
“The site at 372 Glenbrook Beach Rd is an ideal location for the new wastewater treatment plant. Its large size, the distance from neighbouring dwellings and modern technology means any odour will be contained within the site.
“Buildings will be located in the middle of the site and will be consistent with the current zone height of 15 metres. And landscaping will provide visual screening from the road and neighbouring properties.
“We’re planning to use membrane bioreactor technology, which provides a very high level of treatment. The treatment process will be automated so most of the time we won’t need any staff on site.”
Highly-treated wastewater would be released on the outgoing tide at an outfall 100 metres off the shore from the Clarks Beach Golf Course. This discharge location was consented in 2018 after an extensive public consultation process.
“We considered 137 options for the discharge location – including discharging it directly to the Tasman Sea,” Bhamji says. “In the end, discharge to the Manukau Harbour was the preferred discharge option based on the cultural, social, environmental and financial considerations. The environmental experts concluded the high-quality treated wastewater will improve the ecology and water quality in the Waiuku Channel.”
The application to designate the land for wastewater treatment purposes was lodged with Auckland Council on September 1, 2023.
“We’ve asked Auckland Council to publicly notify our application as soon as possible so that the community has another opportunity to have their say,” Bhamji says. “We expect it to be notified next month.
“We know there’s a lot of interest in this project in the local community. We have held six community information sessions through this process, which gave people the opportunity to provide feedback to our team about the work we have planned. Nearly 200 people came to these sessions.”
The best way for the community to stay up to date is to click here and keep across our project page.