Two Rocks: Water Corporation to decommission wastewater ponds when pump station opens

WATER Corporation will stop using open air wastewater ponds in Two Rocks once it finishes building an underground pump station next year.

A spokeswoman for the utility told the Times the ponds south of the Lisford Avenue wastewater treatment plant had never overflowed after a resident raised concerns at the Two Rocks Yanchep Residents Association’s June meeting.

The resident was concerned that the open drains overflowed when the town was busy, were not regularly checked and weren’t securely fenced, however the spokeswoman said the treated wastewater posed no risk to people or animals.

“The wastewater treatment plant disposes of treated wastewater through two infiltration basins, south of the plant,” she said.

“This allows treated wastewater from the plant to naturally infiltrate into the local sand dunes.

“The infiltration basins at the Two Rocks wastewater treatment plant have never overflowed.

“(It) is monitored remotely through an alarm system which alerts our operations centre to any potential issues that may cause an overflow.

“The site is also visited by a crew on a weekly basis.

“The site is fully fenced and there are signs informing the public of the potential health impacts posed via unauthorised access.”

To cater for population growth, Water Corporation is building a below-ground wastewater treatment pump station in Charnwood Reserve, across the road from the existing treatment plant.

The spokeswoman said the existing facility would be decommissioned when that work finished in early 2019.

“The new infrastructure will transfer wastewater flows to the Alkimos wastewater treatment plant, which can treat up to 20 million litres of wastewater each day,” she said.

The spokeswoman said work started in January and almost 3km of the 4.2km wastewater main along Two Rocks Road-Lisford Avenue had been built and another 1km main was being built on Marmion Avenue in Yanchep.

“The new below-ground wastewater pump station on Charnwood Reserve and the upgrade of the existing Abrolhos Close wastewater pump station are in the early stages of construction,” she said.

“Work began July 4 to dewater the area surrounding the new wastewater pump station.

“This work is expected to take about one month to complete.”

To report wastewater overflows, call 13 13 75.