Waikato WTP Upgrade

Proving that location is not a barrier to our services, we worked on the Waikato Water Treatment Plant upgrade earlier this year. The objective was to increase the plant’s capacity to service an ever growing population in the upper part of the North Island.

Controlweb was involved in each stage of increasing the plant capacity from the original 75 MLD to 175 MLD over a number of staged projects. These upgrades affected all areas of the process including Raw water pumping, clarification, chemical dosing, membrane filtration, GAC/BAC filtration, sludge handling, treated water pumping and the addition of a new process area, sand separation.

What We Did…

Membrane software was re-developed to provide a system which was reliable and efficient. It scheduled shared resources in a way that maximised the availability, allowing the addition of six new membrane trains without upgrading common equipment (blowers, backwash pumps, chemical system etc).

We were also involved in the redevelopment of the raw and treated water pumping areas. We were able to provide a solution that increased efficiency and provided smooth pump transitions. This reduced the flow fluctuations impacting other process areas.

Other than the obvious advantage of the 100 MLD increase in plant capacity, there were other positive benefits of this upgrade project. The operability and availability of the plant was increased due to the high level of detail incorporated within the control system software design.

The Water Treatment Plant is now equipped to deal with a larger capacity of water in a more efficient way.