Upper Clutha Wastewater Conveyance Scheme

From the existing Hāwea Wastewater Treatment Plant, south to Camp Hill Road.

Construction of the new wastewater pump station on Domain Road is progressing well. The emergency storage tanks have now been successfully installed, marking a significant milestone for the project. Work is also underway on constructing the new pump station building, with steady progress being made on site

Work to install the new pipeline from Hāwea WWPS to Camp Hill Road started in mid-May and is completed, remaining works include remediation of farmland and pipeline pressure testing.

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Along Camp Hill Road and across Camp Hill Road Bridge to State Highway 6/Lake Hāwea-Albert Town Road.

Pipe installation in this zone is completed, with all pipe installed leading up to and onto the Camphill Rd bridge. Works remaining in this zone include road re-instatement and line marking around Camphill Bridge.

For pedestrians and cyclists in the area, the Hāwea River Track will be open and users will be able to cross over Camp Hill Road during these works. Minor detours around the worksite may be required at times.

We're expecting work in Zone 2A to be completed in August 2026.

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Along State Highway 6/Lake Hāwea-Albert Town Road to the northern side of Albert Town Bridge.

Work to install the new pipeline along SH6 in this section is complete, with remaining works include remediation and pressure testing of the pipeline.

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This stage of our work involves installing pipe from the Albert Town bridge through to the Mount Iron roundabout. The pipe will be installed within the road reserve alongside State Highway 6 from Kingston St and will head south from here, moving towards the Mount Iron roundabout

Construction crews will largely work under shoulder closures with possible temporary speed limits in place. In some instances, where the width of the road reserve is narrow, stop/go may be required to ensure the safety of our crews and road users.

We're expecting this work to run through until August 2026.

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Works on the Albert Town Bridge are complete. 

On Riverbank Road and through to Mount Iron Roundabout.

Zone 4 includes work to upgrade the Riverbank Road WWPS, which involves constructing a new and larger control room to operate more powerful pumps, a new wet well that holds wastewater before it is pumped to the treatment plant, and emergency storage tanks in the event the WWPS becomes inactive.

Crews will also be working to install sections of the new wastewater pipeline from the Riverbank Road WWPS through to Mount Iron Roundabout over the coming months.

What to expect:

The work will be completed in three stages as follows.  The stages have been designed to reduce disruption as much as possible, while ensuring the safety of our workers.   

Stage 1: Construction of a new inlet manhole - completed

Stage 2: Pump station building and valve chamber - underway

Stage 3: Wet well upgrades and commissioning – Sep-Nov

Traffic lights will remain in place until construction of the upgraded WWPS is completed in approx. September this year.

Why will the project take so long?  

The Riverbank Road WWPS is a critical part of Wānaka’s wastewater network, and it is essential that this infrastructure continues to operate while we construct the new control room.

To complete this work, controls and machinery from the existing control room will be transferred to a temporary container sitting within the road reserve, so it can continue operating while the new and larger control building is constructed. And with deep excavations and trenching to take place along and across part of Riverbank Road too, a mixture of stop/go and lane closures ensure road users and construction staff will remain as safe as possible.

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Parts of Mount Iron Roundabout and east along SH6.

Work to install the new pipeline here is expected to require some stop/go for drivers on a small section of SH6.

We will install the pipe across SH6 to the Albert Town WWPS. This work will be undertaken during night works to minimise disruption to road users. Timing for these night works will be shared once confirmed.

We’re expecting this work to begin in late August and be completed by early September.

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From Mount Iron Roundabout and along SH6 to Cardrona River crossing.

Pipeline installation in this section is complete, Remaining works include road remediation, line marking on the steep embankment near the Cardrona River and demobilisation of the laydown site adjacent to Cardrona River.

Work is expected to be completed by August 2026.

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From Stevenson Road, along SH6 to Cardrona River.

This work was completed in March 2026.

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From Project Pure Wastewater Treatment Plant along Stevenson Road to SH6.

This work was completed in February 2026.

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Crews are continuing work on the remaining sections along State Highway 6 between Albert Town and the Mount Iron Roundabout, as well as a short section connecting the pipeline with the Riverbank Road Pump Station.

With only a few road crossings left to complete, the majority of traffic disruptions associated with the project are now behind us.

As pipeline installation is completed, crews are moving into site reinstatement and remediation works, including:

• Asphalt repairs and associated road marking.

• Topsoil placement along berms.

• Site clean-up and demobilisation of laydown areas.

• Remediation and road marking around Camp Hill Road Bridge.

• Remediation and road marking on SH8 between the Cardrona River and Halliday Road.

Traffic impacts: Minor traffic management may still be required in some locations while final pipeline connections, road crossings, and reinstatement works are completed. Motorists are encouraged to follow all temporary traffic management and allow extra travel time where required.

Thank you to the community for their continued patience and support as we complete the final stages of pipeline installation and work towards delivering this important infrastructure upgrade. 

The existing Hāwea wastewater scheme was established in 1988 and includes a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) adjacent to the Hāwea River. Treated effluent is disposed of using a combination of irrigation and in ground disposal trenches. The scheme currently treats wastewater from the existing Hāwea township.

The plant was upgraded in 2000 and has now reached capacity. An interim upgrade of the existing plant has been implemented to enable QLDC to complete the design and construction of a long-term solution.

The following options were shortlisted as part of the development of the Business Case.

• Option 1 - A new wastewater treatment plant on a new site with a new sub-surface irrigation area
• Option 2 - Upgrade of the existing wastewater treatment plant with construction of new rapid infiltration basins for discharge of treated wastewater
• Option 3a - Pumping of wastewater through public and private land for treatment and disposal at Project Pure
• Option 3b - Pumping of wastewater through Albert Town for treatment and disposal at Project Pure (preferred solution)

QLDC completed a robust Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) of the shortlisted options to determine a preferred solution for further design development. The MCA assessed each option against the following eight criteria:

1. Whole of life costs
2. Environmental wellbeing
3. Social wellbeing
4. Risk
5. Consenting
6. Achievability
7. Future proofing
8. Resilience

Option 3b was determined as the preferred solution as it provides the best balance of environmental, social, cost, and resilience benefits to the area. Importantly, it can be implemented with the least consenting risk and does not require any land acquisition or new land access agreements such as easements.

The new pump station at Domain Road will convey wastewater from Hāwea along a new pipeline running down SH6, through Albert Town, and then on to Project Pure WWTP, making use of existing treatment and disposal infrastructure in the Upper Clutha.

The existing plant was built in 1988 and QLDC has recently completed interim upgrades to enable short term compliance with consent requirements for the plant. While there are benefits to a dedicated Hāwea WWTP, construction of a new plant or upgrade of the existing plant were ruled out for two key reasons:

1. The whole of life cost is estimated to be greater than the conveyance-based solution selected, due to construction costs associated with meeting the required treatment standards, and land acquisition and consenting costs.
2. A Hāwea treatment plant-based solution comes with risks associated with complex consenting and/or land acquisition requirements for a new or upgraded treatment plant. As a result, there is significant risk that a treatment plant-based solution could take many years to complete or is unable to be implemented at all.

The infrastructure has been sized to service Hāwea and to enable future connection of Hāwea Flats and the Hāwea Campground.

Hāwea is currently home to an estimated 1,000 Dwelling Unit Equivalents (DUE) with around 4,000 people enjoying the township and surrounding areas on a peak day. We have assumed a high growth rate in Hāwea for the next 30 years and are currently forecasting the number of DUEs to increase to around 4,000 and the population to be around 15,000 on a peak day in this time.

The upgrades will provide capacity for approximately 3,000 more DUEs, which meets the growth expected to occur in the area over the next 30 years.

The growth projection assumptions are considered conservative and as part of the design we have confirmed the population triggers for future upgrades. Therefore, future upgrades would be required earlier if growth is faster than expected. Upgrades may include additional buffer storage, construction of a second pipeline, a local treatment plant and disposal area, or a combination of further staged upgrades.

The population forecast used to determine the sizing of the new system allows for full occupancy of land in Hāwea and surrounding areas enabled by the Queenstown Lakes Spatial Plan.

Currently, all of Wānaka’s wastewater is pumped out to Project Pure using the Albert Town No.2 WWPS and rising main. This includes most of southern and western Wānaka’s flows which are pumped from the Riverbank Road WWPS to the Albert Town No.2 WWPS. The Albert Town No.2 WWPS and existing rising main to Project Pure are forecast to reach capacity around 2028 - 2030.

The future need for a second pipeline and WWPS upgrades was identified when the first pipeline was installed in 2008, and funding for the replacement was provided for in the QLDC Long Term Plan 2021-2031. As part of this project, we assessed the pipeline alignment and WWPS upgrade options. Options included upgrading the existing Albert Town WWPS and constructing a second rising main out to Project Pure or, upgrading the existing Riverbank Road WWPS and constructing a second rising main from this WWPS out to Project Pure.

Ultimately, upgrading the Riverbank Road WWPS and constructing the rising main from this WWPS out to Project Pure was preferred. This is because this option increases network resilience by splitting Wānaka’s current and future wastewater flows between two pump stations, which will help to reduce the reliance on a single WWPS, provide the ability for either pump station to pump into either rising main if repairs and maintenance are required, and reduce the scale of upgrades needed at each pump station.

Upgrading the pump station includes placing a temporary control room on the site to keep this machinery running, which needs the adjacent lane closed to keep staff and drivers safe.

A temporary lane using the eastern shoulder of the road was initially considered to keep both lanes open and flowing at all times, but there are water and wastewater pipes and a manhole located there which would be at risk of being damaged by vehicles passing over the top of them.

As with any large construction project, there will be some disruption while work is undertaken. This is likely to include noise, vibration, and construction machinery around work sites.

Large parts of the new pipeline running from Hāwea to Project Pure will be installed to the side of SH6 or within rural road corridors, meaning we can limit most of the project’s impact with short sections of temporary traffic management while these works are completed.

Other key impacts to be aware of include:

• Bridge works: We expect increased disruption while installing the new pipeline on Camphill Road Bridge and Albert Town Bridge. More detailed updates will be provided to the community and any directly affected people or businesses once we have more information on timing of works and the duration of any potential bridge closures.
• Albert Town works: Construction will be more noticeable as the project progresses through Albert Town from the bridge, and along SH6 to Mt Iron Roundabout.

Council staff will ensure open communication is maintained between members of the Upper Clutha community and the contractor delivering these works, to help minimise as much disruption as possible.

We’ve been engaging with NZTA Waka Kotahi throughout the design process for these wastewater upgrades and can confirm the new pipeline will be attached to Albert Town Bridge. We have taken steps during design to ensure that in the event the bridge is replaced, the wastewater pipe can be realigned and attached to the new bridge.

We will continue to discuss any opportunities to integrate our respective projects with our partners at NZTA.