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Teihana papu ki Opal Drive

New Opal Drive Pump Station

We’re upgrading the capacity of Pāpāmoa East’s wastewater system and building new pipelines and pump stations for future growth.

The new Opal Drive Pump Station is a key project within our planned wastewater services upgrade in Pāpāmoa.

It's also a key pump station in our wider wastewater network. It pumps the majority of wastewater flows from the eastern and central Pāpāmoa area and Wairākei Urban Growth Area through to the Te Maunga wastewater treatment plant.

The existing Opal Drive Pump Station is aging and does not have capacity for future flows. It's also a former package treatment plant that was converted to a pump station in 1991. We're investing in this vital pump station to make sure we have a resilient wastewater service for the Pāpāmoa East community.

Latest update

Earthworks commenced in September 2024. 3400m3 soil will be moved from Opal Drive to the storage site at Topaz Reserve, with trucks moving between both sites frequently.

To keep everyone safe, a daytime closure for through traffic may apply on Opal Drive on weekdays between 7am and 6pm. Traffic will be diverted via Topaz Drive, Domain Road, and Doncaster Drive.

Residents continue to have access to their homes and pedestrian and cycle access across the Wairākei Reserve remains open. Site access crossings will be monitored, including during school start and finish, to ensure kids’ safety.

During recent excavations, some pieces of pipe were found and later tested positive for asbestos. As a result, part of the work on the Opal Drive pump station is currently on hold. Site investigations and testing prior to construction did not identify asbestos on the site. 

Work was immediately stopped to run additional testing, which has identified some further pipe fragments containing asbestos, but no additional sources of asbestos. The northern part of the site has proven to be clear of asbestos risk, so Bay of Plenty Regional Council has agreed to us continuing earthworks in this area.

Once the entire Opal Drive site is verified ‘clean’ by all experts and lab testing of the soil, construction will continue as previously planned. We do expect there will be some delay in the timing for the project, as a result of this discovery.

We thank everyone in advance for their patience.

Opal Street closure map

What’s included in the Opal Drive Pump Station project

The works include:

  • Earthworks to install the new pump station and storage tanks
  • Pipeline realignments/construction in the road and storm water reserve
  • Construction of a generator and control buildings
  • Construction of a biofilter for odour control
  • Construction of two additional storm water culverts across Opal Drive where it crosses the storm water reserve (more information below) 

We’re constructing the new Opal Drive Pump Station on council-owned land at 45 Opal Drive next to the current station.

We expect to find a range of contaminants in wastewater, including heavy metals, PFAS and microplastics. Given the historical use of the Opal Drive site for wastewater disposal, we carried out an analysis of the soil at the site prior to work starting. We found contaminants as we would expect in the soil at this site. Whilst concentrations of these are below human and environmental health limits, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Tauranga City Council are taking a cautious approach to this work in accordance with national best practice.

We're conscious we're working in a residential area, so we're taking extra care to keep the area clean and tidy, and to look after the environment when moving/storing this soil. During this process we are following guidelines provided by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Once we are certain the new station is complete and ready for use, we will decommission the old pump station and safely dismantle it before remediating the site – this will be a separate project.

We expect the Opal Drive Pump Station project will take around 18 months to complete.

Additional storm water culverts

As part of the Opal Drive Pump Station project, we will build two new storm water culverts, which are pipelines under the ground. This project will provide additional capacity for stormwater flows in the Wairakei stream.

The Opal Drive culverts have been scheduled to be completed at the same time as the Opal Drive Pump Station because we need to dig up the road to lay pipes to the new pump station. Combining the two activities at the same time will help to minimise the disruption to the community.

These works are likely to get underway from the second half of 2024. This will involve the closure of Opal Drive for an extended period, with detours in place. We will work with our contractor to minimise the disruption and expect to be able to maintain pedestrian access from one side of Opal Drive to the other.

Soil storage at Topaz Reserve

To make room for the new storage tanks and pump infrastructure at the site, approximately 3400m3 of soil needs to be dug up. There is not enough room to store this soil on site. Following extensive discussion with Bay of Plenty Regional Council while preparing the resource consent application, it was determined the best course of action was to temporarily stockpile the material at Topaz Reserve and return it to the pump station site as backfill around the pump station underground structures. This soil will then be put back into the site as backfill around the storage tanks and pump infrastructure. We're conscious we're working in a residential area, so we're taking extra care to keep the area clean and tidy, and to look after the environment when moving and storing this soil.

What is wastewater?

Wastewater is the water we use in our homes and workplaces. Each time you flush the toilet, pull the plug from a sink, or have a shower, that water drains into a wastewater pipe on your property. The pipeline on your property connects to the wastewater network, which carries the water safely to a treatment plant where the water is treated (cleaned) and then released.

What’s next?

Shortly after we complete works on the Opal Drive Pump Station, we’ll start construction on the Wairākei Pump Station. Situated close to Golden Sands Primary and against the school boundary, this is a designated site for the pump station. We expect the build time to take around 12-15 months and due to the challenge of accessing the site this may cause some disruption to the roads and accessways along the reserve. These works are all part of our Pāpāmoa Wastewater Masterplan.

Papamoa Wastewater Masterplan

Key information

Project type
Water services

Status
Underway

Neighbourhood
Pāpāmoa / Pāpāmoa East

Key dates

  • Contract out for tender

    July - August 2023
  • Pre-construction begins

    Late July 2024
  • Construction begins

    September 2024
  • Pump station complete

    Early 2026

Who's listening

Richard Conning
Project Director
Tauranga City Council

richard.conning@tauranga.govt.nz 
07 577 7000

Other ways to get involved

Tauranga is your city. We're working to make it even better.

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