$½m treatment plant at Kaiapoi

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33965, 4 October 1975, Page 1

$ ½m treatment plant at Kaiapoi

N.C.F. Kaiapoi, Ltd,: will spend about slm on the construction of a treatment plant to take the discharge of trade waste from its freezing works.

The company would otherwise not have been able to comply with the requirements of the North Canterbury Catchment Board and Regional Water Board, and so might have had to close the works.

When completed, the treatment plant will be the most sophisticated of its type in New Zealand, and it will make the Kaiapoi works the only one in Australia or New Zealand with a complete aerobic treatment plant.

To construct the plant, the company had had to borrow heavily, said the general manager (Mr W. D. Douglas) yesterday. The provision of the new facilities had been undertaken to meet higher standards now being demanded by the public in waterways; but for * the company it would not bring in an extra cent of revenue.

A primary sedimentation tank had been built at the works about 10 years ago, and while this had made some improvement, the discharge of waste still had not come up to requirements of the North Canterbury Catchment and Regional Water Board, which was responsible for waterways in the area.

The plant to be built consisted of an oxidation tank

for chemical treatment with manganese sulphate of sulphides from the fellmongery and pelt department; a separate air-flotation tank for the collection of fats and grease; a large filter tower, 24ft high and 44ft in diameter, filled with a plastic media filter material; the conversion of part of the present sedimentation tank into a clarifier; and a sprayirrigation unit for the final disposal of sludge. The volume of water handled daily through the works during the peak season is about 750,000 gallons. Two years ago, an Auckland consultant, Mr R. Hicks, was engaged by the company to examine various treatment methods. During the period of investigation, discussions were held between- the company and a Catchment Board sub-

committee. Mr Douglas said that the company appreciated the board’s co-oper-ation, and its recognition of the problems which had had to be overcome. Much of the new treatment plant would have to work on a 24-hour basis, 365 days of the year. The cost of the electricity, at today’s rates, was estimated to be about $16,000 a year. Its running costs alone a year could be more than $45,000; and when interest on loan moneys was added, the total cost was expected to be very substantial, and might even affect the company’s profitability, Mr Douglas said.

One way of offsetting the additional annual working costs, he said, would be to increase throughput at the works, and so increase revenue.

“At present, the kill is limited to 5900 head daily, but there are facilities available which would allow a further 800 head a day to be killed,” he said. Preliminary discussions had already taken place with the Meat Workers’ Union to achieve this larger capacity, but although nothing definite had yet been decided, Mr Douglas said it was hoped that the chains would soon be able to work at their maximum.

“This capital expenditure is not the only expense the company has to face,” Mr Douglas said. “Next year, to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Agriculture, provision has to be made for electrical stunning of sheep and lambs, the improvement of the casings department, and the progressive replace-

ment of timber in freezing rooms and stores.” Future expenditure on hygiene requirements at works throughout New Zealand had been estimated at s2oom or more; and in response to a request from the industry to the Government for financial help, a special working committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Treasury had investigated each company’s proposals. While expenditure on Kaiapoi’s effluent problem did not really come within the province of the special committee, an approach has been made for some financial assistance, Mr Douglas said. The Government’s reply had been that it would review the whole question of financial aid once the working committee’s investigation had been completed, and its report submitted.