Pictured, TasWater Project Supervisor Garry Barwick overseeing the concrete pour of the emergency retention basin at the new Margate Sewage Pump Station. (PS)

A newly installed pump station and the construction of emergency retention storages at the Margate sewage treatment plant has enabled TasWater to close down the facility which has been in operation for decades.
From now, all sewage from the Margate is pumped through a 15 kilometre pipeline to the Blackmans Bay Sewage Treatment Plant (STP).
TasWater CEO Michal Brewster said the closure of the treatment plant is a milestone worth celebrating for the Margate community.
“Built back in the 1960s Margate’s STP at Dru Point has been underperforming for some time.”
Two large underground tanks have been installed to hold sewage before it is pumped to Blackmans Bay STP with one of the existing lagoons repurposed as additional above ground emergency storage.
This emergency facility is a backup to prevent any sewage entering the environment in case an extended power outage or an extreme flood event impacts on the pump’s operation.
“With the sewage treatment plant replaced by the pump station and the upgraded Blackmans Bay treatment plant now on line, the $50 million project to modernise Kingborough’s sewage network is coming to fruition.
“One of the best outcomes from the closure of the Margate STP is the end of effluent being discharged into North West Bay.
“It is far preferable to now centralise sewage treatment through the Blackmans Bay site where it will comply with current environmental standards and be dispersed into the deeper waters of the lower Derwent and Storm Bay,” said Mr Brewster.
The new Margate pump station will allow decommissioning of the now redundant treatment lagoons with remediation of the site expected to be complete by mid-2019.
TasWater is now finalising work on a similar retention pond at the Electrona STP which will likewise be converted to a pump station and also closed down.