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218 days ago

Making the Wastewater Treatment Plant less stinky

The Team from Whangarei District Council

Can you smell the wastewater treatment plant on Kioreroa Road? 🐷

We've got a plan to make it less smelly: covers and odour treatment systems (bio filters) will be installed around the four stinkiest parts of the plant between now and September 2025. What are those 4 parts? Buckle up.

💩 1: the inlet works (where the untreated sewage comes in for treating), screenings bin (where the lumps go, including old barbie dolls and false teeth)

😷 2: the sludge thickener tanks (that reduce the water in the sludge prior to disposal)

🟫 3: the sludge holding tanks (exactly what they sound like)

🐌🐌 4. the snail bin. The water treatment plant has four large trickling filters - large round bins filled with granite rock. The wastewater trickles over the rocks and the algae growing on them. The algae take massive amounts of nutrients out of the wastewater and clean it up. It’s a very robust and natural process, accelerated by engineering and technology.

The algae attract small snails (3mm), which just love the environment in the trickling filter – it is wet and full of food. The snails grow there by the billions. Every now and then, a few snails are swept out with the wastewater and are filtered out before the water goes to further cleaning.

Those “few snails” however, add up to 2-3 cubic metres per week. We put them in our snail bin and empty it weekly. However, this is long enough for it to over-power all the other smells in the wastewater treatment plant.

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4 hours ago

Give the gift of tickets this christmas!

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Find out more

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4 hours ago

Who’s the Smarty-Pants in the Neighbourhood? Let’s Find Out!

Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

I’m not alive, yet I grow with care.
I wear ornaments, lights, and sometimes a star to bear.
My evergreen presence fills the air, bringing joy to the hearts of those who prepare.
What am I?

Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.

Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.

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16 hours ago

Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.

If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?

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Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
  • 60.2% Summer
    60.2% Complete
  • 37.7% Winter
    37.7% Complete
  • 2.2% Other - I'll share below
    2.2% Complete
369 votes