Specialist Wastewater Treatment Plant Tank Maintenance
Service Updates
Operations and Maintenance
Large tanks are essential to wastewater treatment – from storm tanks and overflow tanks to reactor tanks and process water tanks holding clean water for reuse. While a tank’s design may be simple, maintaining them is anything but. Regular inspections, cleaning, and repairs are critical to ensuring smooth operations, yet they come with significant challenges. One of the biggest concerns is how to carry out essential maintenance safely and without disrupting site operations.
This article focuses on the specialist maintenance of process water tanks, which require annual inspections and disinfection to ensure high-quality water for reuse. These tasks demand meticulous planning and expertise to maintain compliance, safety, and operational continuity. We share insights from two recent maintenance projects for a leading fresh-prepared meals manufacturer that relies on treated wastewater in production.
During routine maintenance and inspections at a client site, our team identified necessary mastic repairs on a 400m³ recycled water tank. While the repair itself was straightforward, the challenge was facilitating the work without disrupting production—especially since the tank needed to be completely emptied before repairs could begin and required an additional three days for curing.
To keep production running, our expert operations team designed a bypass solution that would allow recycled water to be routed directly into the blending tanks to the factory.
How we delivered the solution:
This long-term bypass solution not only enabled immediate repairs but will also allow for future maintenance, cleaning, and inspections without operational disruption.
Our client recycles up to 75% of their wastewater using advanced treatment processes. The high-quality treated effluent is stored in a 400m³ recycled water tank, this water is then transferred to two other tanks (330m2 and 90m3), where it is blended with townswater. This blended water is then pumped to the factory for use in the Clients production process.
Given its role in food manufacturing, these tanks must undergo regular cleaning, maintenance, and disinfection – as you would if you were storing drinking water. Our team recently carried out this process with careful planning and execution to ensure compliance, safety, and zero disruption to production.
Following the completion of the cleaning, inspection, and disinfection process, a detailed compliance report was provided to the client for their records.
This four-day operation required careful water management to minimise waste and prevent the need for tanker removal. Our team ensured that most of the water was used within the factory, while the remaining volume was discharged in a controlled manner, fully compliant with water authority consent limits.
The work was carried out by a team of three specialists, who wore full PPE and respirators. Strict confined space entry and exit protocols were followed to guarantee safety and maintain hygiene standards throughout the process.
Maintaining wastewater treatment tanks requires careful planning, specialist expertise, and a commitment to safety. For this project, we designed a tailored bypass system and carried out a structured cleaning and disinfection process - allowing our client to maintain full production while ensuring compliance and long-term asset performance. We also installed infrastructure to make future maintenance smoother and more cost-effective.
At Alpheus, we provide safe, efficient, and compliant tank maintenance solutions that minimise disruption and maximise reliability. Get in touch to see how we can help keep your assets performing at their best.
