Liverpool's dock home to wastewater treatment plant

Liverpool’s historic dock is to be transformed with a £200 million wastewater plant.

Work on the plant is progressing on target, the Liverpool Echo has reported.

The plant is intended to serve some 60,000 people, treating up to 11,000 litres of wastewater every second. That is the equivalent of filling 16 Olympic-sized swimming pools every hour.

United Utilities is developing the complex behind the high stone wall of Wellington Dock, which is situated near Kirkdale. It has been designed as an extension to an existing treatment works located at nearby Sandon Dock.

Construction began on the project last autumn.

Lorne Large, pricipal project manager at United Utilities, commented: “We’re on target to have this new part of the plant up and running by April 2016.

“It’s a state-of-the-art works and something Liverpool can be proud of. The River Mersey is in safe hands.”

He added that heritage has been put at the forefront of the project, noting that this is the biggest single investment made by the company in its current five-year programme.

“It’s a challenging build because we are working within the confines of the dock and preserving all the heritage,” Mr Large continued.

The improvements will involve sections of Sandon Dock being upgraded and the existing outfall pipe being extended into the River Mersey. This would disperse treated wastewater even further into the estuary in order to meet the new EU standards.

The treatment process will see the raw sewage arrive first at the Sandon Dock plant, where it will undergo its “primary” treatment.

Under the next phase, the wastewater will be given secondary treatment at the Wellington Dock complex. This is designed to ensure it is clean enough to return to the River Mersey. 

The reason for the new work is because the original plant is coming to the end of its life, and this project has involved reclaiming the original docks, which have not been used since the 1970s.