Accelerating to Meet Growth, Delivering Watercare's Warkworth Wastewater Programme

Annual Conference

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Watercare is responsible for providing infrastructure to enable population growth and is committed to delivering reliable, safe and efficient water and wastewater services across the Auckland region. The challenge for Watercare is to deliver quality infrastructure in time to meet deadlines under pressure from development without sacrificing on cost.

The Warkworth area, in the northern part of the Auckland Region, is experiencing significant growth. The population has grown from 3,900 in 2013 to 8,400 today, and is expected to more than triple to 28,000 by 2050.

In response to the future urban growth areas identified in the Auckland Unitary Plan, Watercare developed the Warkworth Wastewater Servicing Strategy which presents an overall concept for servicing future developments.

As part of the Warkworth Wastewater Servicing Strategy, Watercare is investing $190 million over the next four years in the area’s wastewater network to ensure local communities continue to have reliable, resilient wastewater services that will also meet the needs of Warkworth’s growing population well into the future. The improvements to the area’s wastewater network include: 8.5km of new transfer pipeline and three pump stations, an advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), and an upgraded ocean outfall.

This paper focusses on the new wastewater pipeline and pump station project, Warkworth to Snells Transfer Pipeline, and the accelerated delivery strategy employed by Watercare to meet essential deadlines. Key to the success of the accelerated delivery strategy are:

  • Early buy-in from key stakeholders: Frequent and targeted engagement with key stakeholders and the community led to broad support for the project.
  • Route optimisation to reduce consent and construction timelines: Achieved using a comprehensive multi-criteria decision support framework, which considered multiple objectives, but prioritised programme as a key driver.
  • Advanced land acquisition and agreements. Early discussions and negotiations with landowners led to timely access and sale/purchase agreements and affected party sign-off.
  • Early investigation programme. Early contracts were let for geotechnical, contaminated land, and survey to facilitate an efficient design process. A consenting strategy and User Requirement Specification were developed early to provide a basis for subsequent design; and
  • Advanced physical works. The project was divided into packages with advanced physical works taking place for the outfall and WWTP earthworks.

    • Combined, these efforts have placed Watercare in a strong position to deliver the transfer pipeline project within the required timeframe to support growth and meet consenting deadlines.

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    1. Accelerating for Growth.pdf

    pdf
    1 MB
    17 Oct 2019

    1330WH~1.PDF

    PDF
    4 MB
    17 Oct 2019