We continue to make progress on returning the plant to normal operations.

Our monitoring of odour over the past week has indicated that odour levels appear to be reducing.

Progress with clearing the backlog of sludge is steady and we will continue to truck dewatered sludge to landfill until 20 December. We expect to complete cleaning of the primary sedimentation tank #2 by 18 December. The trial to optimise the processing of sludge before it moves into the centrifuges and dryer has helped with increased production of dewatered sludge. This is an important step towards restoring the plant to a balanced state.

As advised, we will be pausing planned maintenance and other activities over the Christmas/New Year break to minimise odour levels.  We are working with Veolia on the plan to manage plant operations during this period.

We will be sending out a final Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant newsletter for the year around 20 December. This will include details of this plan, as well as an update on the actions arising from the community meeting held on 25 November.

The trial to shutdown the odour neutralisers is continuing.  Thanks to all who have completed the survey to date. Response numbers have slowed down and we encourage you to share the link to the survey to people impacted by odour levels from the plant. Please continue to submit responses via the survey. This will help us to assess the impact of not using the odour neutraliser on odour levels experienced by the community.

For more information about the trial and update on latest survey results, see here.

As advised in our update on 6 December 2024, urgent maintenance is being undertaken on one of the primary sedimentation tanks (PST). The PSTs process solids before they are sent off to sludge treatment.

Work will be starting on 9 December 2024 to clean PST #2 and is expected to take 3-4 days. The work is an important part of our proactive programme of maintenance to keep the plant operating efficiently, especially with the summer period approaching.

There is a risk of increased odour at the plant while this maintenance work is being undertaken. We are hopeful that odour will be minimised with the good progress made in clearing the backlog of sludge, changes made to improve the efficiency of the process and progress to restoring the balance of the plant. 

We will monitor odour levels closely while this work takes place. Please contact the regulator, Greater Wellington Regional Council if you experience an increase in noticeable odour.

Work is continuing on restoring the plant to normal operations which is vital to reducing odour levels.

The dryer is back in operation, and we are making progress with clearing the backlog of sludge. We resumed trucking dewatered sludge to landfill on 3 December and expect to continue doing this until 18 December. This is being done to supplement the dryer and get the plant to normal operations as quick as we can. There is a risk of increased odour at the plant while this process is being carried out. We have erected scaffolding and cover in the area where dewatered sludge is being loaded and are using two fully covered bins that have been transferred from Porirua. This will help reduce odour levels during the load out and trucking of sludge to landfill.

We have additional consultants on site working closely with Veolia to assist with proactive monitoring of the operation of the plant. They are also making recommendations on ways to further improve efficiency as well as any changes that could help to accelerate restoring balance of the plant.

We are working through the recommendations made for improvements in the sludge removal processes. These are focused on optimising the processing of sludge before it moves into the centrifuges and dryer. Early results of this work are positive and will keep you updated on progress.

We are expecting the arrival of replacement parts for Blower 2 on 16 December. When the repair is completed around 19 December, all three blowers will be back in service at the plant.

Urgent maintenance is required on one of the primary sedimentation tanks. This is part of a proactive programme of maintenance critical to the continued efficient operation of the plant. This work will be starting over the next two weeks. There is a risk of increased odour while this work is being carried out. We have plans to minimise this and will be monitoring odour levels closely during this time.

We will be pausing work on the tanks as well some other activities over the holiday period to minimise odour levels. We are also planning to not truck dewatered sludge to the landfill during this period.  Routine operation of the plant and dryer will continue.

A well-attended community meeting on the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant on Monday 25 November heard from the Mayor of Hutt City Council who outlined that the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant is a top priority for Hutt City Council and that the level of odour is completely unacceptable. This has been made clear to Wellington Water and through them Veolia.

Both HCC and UHCC have committed to $230M over ten years of investment in the plant. With this funding and workplans the odour levels will be mitigated although not completely eliminated due to the nature of the plant’s operation

Wellington Water Chief Executive Pat Dougherty and senior leaders of Wellington Water, along with plant operators Veolia apologised for the unacceptable odour from the plant.  The most recent increase in odour was caused by two small fires and equipment failure in the sludge dryer in September.

Veolia said this was a challenging and an unacceptable situation. They acknowledged and recognised their accountability to deliver the right outcomes in the community. They also said the community could expect better and was determined to deliver better. They noted this won’t be easy as there are similar ageing infrastructure challenges across New Zealand  every day.

The meeting also heard about Wellington Water and Veolia’s plans to replace the sludge dryer and make other improvements (further details on the website here)

Pat Dougherty said the sludge dryer is due to be replaced in three to four years. He said that even when the old equipment has been replaced, there may be some odour. He said Wellington Water is doing everything it can to get the plant running properly, reducing the likelihood of odour reaching people’s homes, but it is not possible to guarantee the odour will stop indefinitely.

There was discussion about a number of issues including the odour neutraliser spray in use, funding, planning for the future and the impact on health and wellbeing, property values and businesses.

Wellington Water agreed that, in response to the community’s wishes, it would trial turning off the odour neutralisers in use at the plant.  More details will be provided once plans are confirmed.

Wellington Water agreed to investigate improving communications drawing on the experience in relation to the Bromley Wastewater Treatment Plant in Christchurch.

Actions from the meeting:

Odour monitoring at the plant – looks at ways to communicate regularly on status on the WWL website. Consider network connected hydrogen sulphide and other monitoring such as wind direction.

Communications – more regular updates including looking at ways to reach people (letterbox drop). Consider interactive map with condition and work plan for each pond (traffic light system)

Trial not using odour blasters with advance notice to the community on days this would be happening. This information would be published on the WWL website.

Community concern about having to continually raise the odour issue by lodging complaints will be better managed through more regular communications.

Plant operation update 

The sludge dryer, which has an important role in reducing the volume of sludge before it is taken to landfill, is now back up and running at the plant. This will improve the efficiency of plant operations and help minimise odour.

With the dryer back in operation, we have reduced the amount of sludge being transported to landfill but this will continue intermittently to reduce solids in the process, particularly when the dryer is taken down for maintenance. We still have odour neutralisers located where the sludge is loaded into the trucks, to minimise odour as much as possible.

Maintainance work begins today on one of the primary sedimentary tanks, which involves draining down the tank and moving solid matter. This may cause odour, but we have mitigations in place including a deodoriser to reduce the smell as much as possible. We’ll be regularly monitoring the odour while the work takes place.

Please be assured we’re doing everything we can to minimise odour. We’ll keep you updated on any key operational updates, and provide another update next week.  

Work continues to reduce the backlog of dewatered sludge, before bringing the sludge dryer back into service – scheduled for early next week, but earlier if possible. 

We’ve increased the amount of sludge being transported to landfill, from around 8 tonnes, to 50 tonnes per day. This helps us reduce the sludge backlog quicker, support efficient plant operations and minimise odour as we head into summer. The sludge backlog was a result of the sludge dryer outages that happened in September and October.

The sludge transportation is likely to result in increased odour as we load the trucks.  We have moved one of the odour neutralisers at the plant to where we are loading the trucks to reduce the odour as much as possible.  We apologise for any increased odour that you may have experienced at the plant since this work started. We expect odour to improve early next week when we bring the sludge dryer back into service.

Our team are also investigating potential issues with one of the primary sedimentary tanks and one of the blowers at the plant. These issues could impact the overall performance of the plant.  We are working as fast as we can to have these issues resolved as soon as possible.

Please be assured we are doing all that we can to reduce odour levels. We have brought in an external expert to provide additional support and focus on plant operations and to provide recommendations to accelerate the solids removal process.

We’ll continue to closely monitor the situation and have another update to share early next week.

We are making progress with restoring the plant to normal operations following the sludge dryer outages.

We thank the community for your patience as we continue this work. While it’s taking longer than expected, the plant’s biological process, critical to the health and balance of the plant, is tracking in the right direction to the desired target range. This is vital to reducing and keeping odour levels at a minimum.

We continue to work closely with the plant operator Veolia, to monitor and maintain continuity of the sludge dryer service and to improve contingency planning.

Our observation of odour has shown that levels have continued to reduce in the past two weeks. We acknowledge the levels have been unacceptable and we will continue to do all we can to reduce levels. We are focused on managing the operation of the plant to minimise the risk of further equipment outages.

We are continuing work on reducing odour levels and restoring the plant to normal operations following the sludge dryer outages.

As part of regular maintenance on the sludge dryer yesterday, we identified a fault with an electrical component (variable speed drive) of one of the fans. This was replaced with a spare held on site, but it did require the dryer to be offline to enable this work to be done.

While sludge levels are still elevated, results from our daily monitoring of the plant show the treatment process is stable and this unplanned maintenance work did not have a significant impact on the plant.

We appreciate the impact of odour from the plant for residents and business. We assure you that we are working as fast as possible and doing all we can to reduce odour.

Thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding as we continue work to stabilise the health of the plant, returning it to normal operations.

We are continuing to monitor odour levels with on-site surveys in and around the plant.

The backlog of dewatered sludge is reducing, and we are continuing to transfer it to landfill. The sludge dryer operation otherwise is functioning as expected.

We want to assure the community we are doing all we can to manage odour levels. We also have an additional odour blaster on site to help.

From next week, some essential maintenance works will resume, to support the plant’s biological process.

In the meantime, we will keep the community updated on any developments and provide odour notifications as necessary.

Please note, the recent spike in odour levels is not attributable to work on the biofilter replacement upgrade. These works aim to improve the site’s overall odour control performance and minimise ongoing odour issues experienced from the site.

We sincerely apologise for the increased odour that the community has experienced over the past week. The odour levels have been unacceptable, and we regret it is taking longer than we would like to reduce levels and minimise impacts on the community.

Given the circumstances, we are working as fast as possible and doing all we can to reduce odour levels. We have suspended work on planned maintenance and upgrade activities that could contribute to additional odour levels. We are also exploring options to improve odour levels, including installing an additional odour neutraliser.

While we focus on stabilising plant operations and returning the plant to normal service, the odour levels are expected to decrease and become less noticeable. Note, this will be dependent on localised weather conditions and especially wind direction.

We will continue to engage with the community and keep them informed of any developments. We advise residents to contact the regulator, Greater Wellington Regional Council if they experience an increase in noticeable odour.

ENDS

We’re making great progress with upgrading the biofilter air distribution system at the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Our contractors Wellington Pipelines Ltd have completed over half of the work and we’re on track to finish the works by November 1.

The biofilter upgrade is the first phase of works we’re undertaking to improve overall odour management at the plant. We’re doing these improvements on behalf of Hutt City Council and Upper Hutt City Council and they are expected to be completed in 2026.

Here are some images showing progress. 

Second cell excavation

New crate plenum installation

New isolation valves in place during plenum installation

Completed cell

Work to upgrade of the biofilter air distribution system at the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant begins today, Monday 19 August. This is a key part of improving the management of odour at the plant. This work is expected to be completed by early November.

We advise that there may be noticeable odour coming from the plant while these works are carried out.  We are managing the work to mitigate the risk and will be operating the odour neutraliser. We will be monitoring odour on site and outside the plant boundary. Find out more about the work here This is a key part of improving the management of odour at the plant. This work is expected to be completed by early November.

We advise that there may be noticeable odour coming from the plant while these works are carried out.  We are managing the work to mitigate the risk and will be operating the odour neutraliser. We will be monitoring odour on site and outside the plant boundary.

Find out more about the work under 'Odour Treatment' in the  menu bar.

We ask for your patience with any short-term increase in odour while we make these long-term improvements to the plant.

Seaview meeting - July 30

Thank you to members of the community, council staff and councillors, who attended a briefing on upcoming work to renew the odour control system at the plant on Tuesday 30 July.  

Read the presentation delivered at the meeting here

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The Primary Sedimentation Tank #3 (PST3) will be gradually drained from 12:00 on Wednesday 31 July 2024 in preparation for cleaning  on Thursday 1 August 2024.

Please note there may be noticeable odour coming from the plant while these works are carried out. To mitigate this the Odour Suppression System/Odour Blaster will be operating and the site will be monitored.

We had 20 people attend the recent public tour of the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant on Saturday, June 22.

Two groups were guided through the plant following a welcome and health and safety briefing. Wellington Water’s Chief Advisor Wastewater Steve Hutchison provided a history of the plant, its construction and networks connections.  

The plant operator Veolia, facilitated the walk around the plant explaining the different aspects of treatment and treatment processes. The tours ended with a Q & A session.

Invitation to Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant Tour

Wellington Water invites you to tour the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant to see first-hand how the plant works and where upgrade work will be taking place.

• Saturday 22 June
• 1.30 pm to approx. 3.30 pm
• Seaview plant main entrance, Waterman Street, Seaview
• You must book in advance as numbers are limited 

Please note that the tour involves walking and climbing a number of stairs so if you have mobility issues it may not be suitable for you.  The tour is also not suitable for children under the age of 12.

For health and safety reasons, people must wear long pants, long-sleeved tops and closed shoes.  We will provide safety equipment in the form of hard hats, hi-vis vests, safety glasses and disposable gloves, which must be worn.

Most of the tour route is outside, so jackets or rain gear may be required if it’s showery. If the weather forecast is bad, the tour will be postponed to Saturday 6 July. Numbers are limited so if there is a lot of interest we will add another date.   

RSVP

 Please book your place on the tour by emailing community@wellingtonwater.co.nz with your name, number of people attending, and your contact number in case of postponement. Please RSVP before Friday 14 June.

A summary of the meeting and talking points from the March 21 CLG are here

The full 'minutes' are here  

A community meeting on Thursday, 21 March discussed plant performance and Wellington Water's plans for upgrades to improve odour control.  

Here is the presentation from the meeting - Seaview CLG March 21 2024

Here is the Greater Wellington Regional Council report discussed at the meeting

There were some requests for information at the meeting and these will be responded to shortly.

The works were initially expected to be completed by late January  but the project team managed to reinstate the biofilter media prior to the Christmas break.

All the six cells of biofilter media are replaced and now commissioned.

Please note, While the biofilter media has been replaced, it will take a short period of time to bed in and become fully functional and 100 percent effective.  

These works are a small first step to improve odour management, Hutt City Council has also included $13 million of proposed upgrades and improvements in the draft Long Term Plant. 

This investment will support the long-term solution to odour management at the treatment plant.

We’ve made great progress with the biofilter media replacement at the Seaview plant.

These important works to improve odour management at the plant are ahead of schedule and we’re on track to complete the works by January 25.

From tomorrow, December 22, works will stop for the holidays and resume on January 10, 2024.

We acknowledge the patience of the local community and businesses, we look forward to completing the works for better odour management at the plant.

The team have made excellent progress after managing to replace the biofilter media in both cells 3  and 4.

This means 4 of the 6 cells of the biofilter media are replaced and commissioned. 

The team have now moved to cell 5 to begin the process of excavation and inspection, before installing the new media.

 Further updates will be provided as the project progresses.

Biofilter media - cells 2 &3 completed

Biofilter media - cell 4 completed

Thank you to everyone who turned up at the Seaview community meeting on Wednesday night, your attendance and views were much appreciated.

We are committed to resolving the odour issue and will be working with Hutt City Council to get the necessary upgrades prioritised.

We know you want us to keep investing in the local wastewater system. Hutt City Council will be considering odour control upgrades as part of their long-term plan meeting next Tuesday.

Hutt City Council has proposed $13 million dollars to be spent over the next 3 years on the odour control upgrade work, along with other significant upgrades for the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The team have successfully commissioned Cells 1  and 2 today. This means that both Cells are now operational and treating the odorous gases as designed (Image 1).

The team have moved the digger into Cell 3 and commenced excavation of the old media this afternoon (Image 2). Next week Cell 3 will be excavated and inspections will be performed before installing the new media.

Further updates will be provided as the project progresses.

Image 1 - Cells 1  and 2 complete                                                                                     Image 2 – Cell 2 complete and digger in Cell 3

At the community meeting, Council and Wellington Water acknowledged that it's been unpleasant, inconvenient, and distressful for many who live in the vicinity, and discussed plans to address the odour issue at the Seaview wastewater treatment plant. 

Te Rūnanganui o Te Āti Awa ki te Upoko o Te Ika a Māui, Waiwhetu marae and Wellington Tenths Trust/Palmerston North Māori Reserve Trust were in attendance as were many residents. The Hutt Park Holiday Village (Top 10) also attended. Deputy Mayor Lewis, Councillors Edwards, Brown, Dyer and Mike Fisher Petone Community Board Chair also attended along with staff from HCC, WW and GWRC. Seaview Marina and other businesses were also in attendance.

The presentation (815KB PDF)from Wellington Water explained the investigation undertaken to date and its outcome that biofilter media had reached the end of its lifespan and requires replacing. It was explained that an attempt to isolate and contain the first section of the biofilter as it was removed had not worked as hoped and resulted in the recent offensive odour.

Assurances were given by Council that we would do all we can to address the odour issue in the short and medium term.

Council is considering the draft Long-Term Plan, which now has a significant investment of $13 million, to significantly improve the situation with replacement of aged equipment at the plant. This investment has been brought forward to the next three years.

Mana Whenua present requested a separate briefing and for improved communications with them. Residents and businesses expressed frustration with the time it is taking to address the issue and, in the meantime, having to live with the offensive smell.

Hutt Park Holiday Village was critical the work is being undertaken during their busiest period, reporting a significant number of negative online reviews and direct complaints from customers about the smell.

Wellington Water expects this work will be completed by 25 January by which time the odour is expected to have significantly abated.

Councillors recommended that residents continue to log complaints via customer@wellingtonwater.co.nz when they notice the smell and encouraged them to make submissions to the Long-Term Plan process currently before Council. An online survey to gather feedback will appear on Hutt City Council's Annual Plans and Long Term Plans page on 2 April 2024 and remain open throughout April.

Works to replace the biofilter media are progressing well with the contractor successfully installing the new media into Cell 1 last week. (Image 1)

The digger has now been moved to Cell 2 (Image 2) and will begin removing the old media which will then be transported to landfill for disposal.

The replacement media for Cell 2 will be delivered this week and the team are optimistic of installing this ahead of schedule to fully commission cells 1 & 2 next week.

Further updates will be provided as the project progresses.

Image 1 - New media installed into Cell 1.                                                                                                       Image 2 - Digger operating in Cell 2.