TasWater is nearing the completion of a 4.3km sewer pipeline that will help unlock a more modern, resilient wastewater system for Hobart.
A section of the Tasman Highway will be temporarily closed to install the final stage of the pipeline, which connects the new Macquarie Point pump station – the largest of its kind in Tasmania – with the Selfs Point sewage treatment plant at New Town Bay.
The pipeline is one of three projects being carried as part of the Selfs Point sewer transformation, which aims to improve how wastewater is managed across Hobart and improve outcomes for the River Derwent.
The other two projects include construction of the new Macquarie Point pump station, sized at two megalitres and 23-metre diameter, which will replace the Macquarie Point sewage treatment plant, and the upgrade of the Selfs Point sewage treatment plant, which was originally built in 1972.
Once complete, the upgraded Selfs Point plant will treat up to 25 megalitres of wastewater per day and reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous entering the Derwent River by 50 per cent.
Co-funded by the Tasmanian Government, the Selfs Point sewer transformation is TasWater’s largest project to date, supporting 3420 jobs and the generation of $1.1 billion in economic activity once construction has been completed later this year.
TasWater has its work cut out for it as it invests $2 billion by 2030 to overhaul the state’s water and sewerage infrastructure, with dozens of new pump stations being built to help rationalise sewage treatment plants across the state.
“We currently have 110 sewage treatment plants in Tasmania, which is reflective of previous councils having plants in their own patch,” TasWater general manager – project delivery Tony Willmott told Pump Industry.
“This equates to having about 38 per cent of the water and sewage treatment plants for two per cent of the Australian population, so we’ve got some rationalisation work to do.”
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