Case Study

Plainlands Retail Development

A new shopping development near Gatton, in South East Queensland required a reliable and discreet on-site treatment and disposal solution.

Challenge

The Plainlands Retail Development is located next to the Warrego Highway near the growing community of Gatton. The development features a large Woolworth’s supermarket and various other retailers. Without access to mains sewerage, the site required a low profile and reliable treatment solution to treat the wastewater produced on site. The developers also required a contractor capable of providing an entire wastewater treatment and effluent disposal system.

In addition, the tenants of the new retail development had limited maintenance resources and as such required a treatment plant that would operate with minimum operator input.

Solution

Stornoway Water proposed an Aqeo™ 40m3/day class B treatment plant using an in-situ design. The in-situ treatment plants utilize in-ground concrete tanks to provide process volumes which thereby minimize the visual impact of the treatment plant. Stornoway Water was also able to provide a necessary pump station as well as design and construction of a sub-surface irrigation system in a near-by disposal field. Stornoway Water was able to provide the client with a broad package of design and build services and thereby simplify the contracting process.

In addition, Stornoway Water was also able to provide an ongoing routine maintenance and monitoring contract for the treatment system. This professional service significantly reduced the ongoing operational commitments for the owner of the assets.

Results

Since completion in early ‘06, the treatment plant has consistently exceeded the design expectations. Whilst designed to achieve a Class B effluent quality, the treated effluent quality frequently achieves the much higher Class A standard with faecal coliform counts consistently below 5 cfu/mL and BOD below 5 mg/L. Biological Nitrogen Reduction has also been particularly impressive with results generally less than 10 mg/L.