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Palmerston North Wastewater Best Practicable Option

Evaluating the best way to manage, treat, and discharge the city’s wastewater

  • $387M

    Capital Cost

  • 54K

    Pop. Growth by 2072

  • 50+

    Associated Events

  • Palmerston North, New Zealand

    Palmerston North, New Zealand

Helping to bring Palmerston North’s wastewater system into the future

Palmerston North City Council was looking for alternative ways to treat, discharge, and manage the City’s wastewater. The treated wastewater was discharged into the Manawatū River, which contributed to significant algal growth in the riverbed.

Appointed lead technical advisors, our team was tasked with finding the best practicable option (BPO) for the City’s wastewater—it needed to be a solution that could last 30–50 years. Our selected options were developed from rigorous assessment and evaluations processes, and we worked collaboratively with mana whenua (land authority) and iwi (local kinship group), as well as with stakeholders and the community. Following many technical reports, the final recommendation issued to the Council included an adaptive management solution, seeking to reduce the impact of treated wastewater on the river over time. The BPO solution is to install a state-of-the-art four stage biological treatment system (Bardenpho technology), followed by a bio-reactor micro-filtration membrane system to remove particles as tiny as 0.04 microns.

Going forward, we're also preparing the assessment of environmental effects for multiple resource consent applications. Our goal? To support the Council to meet environmental standards, balance competing community needs, and make managing wastewater cleaner and more affordable for a rapidly growing city. 

At a Glance

Offices
Client
  • Palmerston North City Council
Partners
  • Pattle Delamore Partners
  • Aqualinc Research
  • River Lake
Photo Credit
Palmerston North City Council
Meet Our Team

Paula Hunter, National Planning Specialist

I am committed to planning excellence and the delivery of best practice solutions.

Anna Bridgman, New Zealand Operations Leader—Water

How do I deliver the best work for our clients? By making sure my teams are happy, motivated, challenged and resourced.

Paula Hunter

National Planning Specialist

Anna Bridgman

New Zealand Operations Leader—Water

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