Due to increased economic development, population growth and increasing levels of tourism, Trinidad and Tobago’s national Water Supply and Sewerage Company (WASA), recognised that a new treatment plant was required to meet stringent environmental standards.

To protect as much of the wetlands as possible existing reclaimed land has been used for the temporary site offices and storage yards to reduce the extent of mangrove clearance. The existing pumping station has been refurbished rather than construct a new facility, which has both environmental and economic benefits. Construction of the ground works, which began in 2001, had to be carried out carefully as the facility is built on a mangrove swamp.

The New Beetham Plant has been designed to withstand “Zone 3” earthquakes, as well as the weight of heavy mobile construction equipment. Extensive lateral and seismic testing on the load bearing capacity of the site, as well as the load bearing capacity of the piles supporting the plant, had to be undertaken. The result is a uniform fill of two metres across the whole site area penetrated by over 2000 piles, with an average length of 25 metres, driven into the ground to meet the necessary earthquake zone requirements

Main Items of Plant:

• Preliminary treatment step screens and vortex grit removal
• Secondary aerobic treatment two Bioreactors complete with front-end anoxic zones and mechanical surface aerators four Final Clarifiers (39m diameter)
• UV system - disinfection of final effluent
• Feed, transfer, recirculation and discharge pumping and pipework
• Site water systems - process wash water and fire system
• Power supplies including substations, switchgear, cabling and emergency generator
• Complete control and monitoring system (MCCs, SCADA, instrumentation)
• All operations and control buildings including fully equipped on-site laboratory