In March, IPENZ Auckland Branch organised a site visit to Watercare’s new Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) unit construction site and a briefing from a Watercare representative. The new unit is a secondary process that increases the ability of the Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant to treat flow from an additional population of 250,000.

The new BNR facility uses the same technology currently employed at the Mangere plant to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from the wastewater stream, common sources of which include farm run-off, industrial discharges, stormwater run-off, and human and animal waste. Their presence in waterways can lower oxygen levels, in turn reducing water quality and environmental diversity, and harming marine life.

The new facility, combined with planned upgrades elsewhere in the network, will allow wastewater streams currently treated at Mangere to be diverted to Rosedale, and will ensure Watercare continues to meet the expected demand for its services in an environmentally sustainable fashion.

Earthworks and foundation works are currently underway and it is expected that the operational handover of the unit to Watercare will be somewhere mid-2018.

The following photo shows the footprint of the BNR reactor.

BNR

A new Health and Safety System has been developed by Resolve Group as the company’s response to the recent new legislation relating to Health and Safety in the workplace (the Health and Safety at Work Act 2016). This new System has been designed to enable the company to provide its staff with a safer working environment (in the office, on the road or at the work site), while giving us compliance with the Act and helping to meet WorkSafe NZ requirements for Health and Safety.

A vital part of the System are the Risk Management Plans. These have been developed to more carefully identify risk in our workplace (wherever it may be) and to put in place processes to manage that risk (by elimination, isolation or mitigation).

Resolve Group has also recently joined the international organisation, ISNetWorld. Membership of this group enables us, as a company, to become health and safety “pre-qualified” with those clients that choose to utilise ISNetWorld as part of their supplier management system.

Resolve Group’s health and safety actions are part of the national drive to reduce serious injuries and fatalities at work as New Zealand undergoes its most significant workplace health and safety reforms in 20 years.