The new Opal Drive Pump Station is a key project within our planned wastewater services upgrade in Pāpāmoa, and wider wastewater network.
It will pump 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 temporary 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.
Community open day: 10 May
Join us for a community open day at the Opal Drive Pump Station on 10 May, from 10am to 1pm.
Bring your whānau to learn all about this new pump station, how a pump station works and what’s happening on site. Our team will be available to show you around and answer all your questions.
Everyone is welcome. Kids can join, but need to be accompanied by an adult at all time. Please dress for the weather and closed shoes are essential.
If you are driving, please park on Doncaster Road and walk the short distance to the site.
We hope to see you there!
Construction update – April 2025
We are making good progress on the construction of the new Opal Drive Pump Station, and continuing with ground improvements and the construction of concrete foundations.
We’re also progressing with the installation of pipes in the road corridor and culverts at the intersection of Opal Drive and Wairākei Reserve.
Opal Drive remains closed to through traffic while construction continues on pipes and culverts in the road corridor. By doing this work now, a second road closure later is avoided.
The road closure and associated detour is expected to remain in place until September 2025.
- Residents will continue to have access to their property at all times.
- Current pedestrian and cycle access detour through Wairākei Reserve remains in place and will be reviewed in late May, to allow access through the site as soon as this is deemed safe.
- We encourage people to stick to the marked paths if walking or cycling in the area.
We thank everyone in advance for their patience with this essential work.
What’s included in the Opal Drive Pump Station project
The works include:
- Earthworks to install the new pump station and storage tanks – the bulk of this work has been completed; minor earthworks are continuing
- Pipeline construction in the road corridor and stormwater reserve
- Construction of terminal chamber, wet well, a generator and control buildings
- Construction of a biofilter for odour control
- Construction of storage tanks
- Construction of two additional stormwater culverts across Opal Drive where it crosses the Wairakei Reserve (more information below)
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 two years to complete with predicted completion in Q3 of 2026.
What's happening now?
Sheet piling has been installed to ensure we can dig down safely to the level required, without disturbing the surrounding soil and to protect the excavation from the groundwater. This is essential to be able to maintain safe and workable platform below ground to build foundations for the new facility.
We are also:
- Preparing to lay pipes from the southeast corner of the reserve to the pump station site at Opal Drive and attending to the outer ends within the watercourse.
- Preparing to install the sewer pipes to direct wastewater into the new pump station. Connections to the existing pipes will be done at a later stage.
- Continuing to work on the installation of non-vibratory stone column ground improvements, and stormwater culverts to Wairākei Reserve.
- Tying reinforcement steel and beginning to pour concrete foundations in April 2025.
Additional stormwater culverts
As part of the Opal Drive Pump Station project, we will build two new stormwater culverts, which are large concrete pipes under the ground. This project will provide additional capacity for stormwater flows in the Wairākei stream.
The Opal Drive culverts have been scheduled to be completed at the same time as the Opal Drive Pump Station pipelines because we need to dig up the road to lay the 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 underway. This will involve the closure of Opal Drive to through traffic for an extended period of approximately six months, with detours in place. We are working with our contractor to minimise the disruption and are maintaining pedestrian access from one side of Opal Drive to the other through Wairākei Reserve.
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, storage tanks and pump infrastructure.
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. These works are all part of our Pāpāmoa Wastewater Masterplan.
