The 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes: impact on the liquid waste management system of Christchurch, New Zealand

This paper describes the impacts of the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes on the city of Christchurch's liquid waste management system (i.e. the infrastructure associated with wastewater collection, treatment and disposal). The effect on each unit operation and process is documented along with t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Civil engineering and environmental systems 2013-03, Vol.30 (1), p.1-14
Main Authors: Wareham, David G., Bourke, Mike
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Buildings. Public works
Christchurch
Earthquakes
Environmental impact
Exact sciences and technology
Geotechnics
Liquefaction
liquid waste management system
Liquid wastes
Management systems
Networks
New Zealand
Power plants
Seismic phenomena
Sewerage. Sewer construction
Structure-soil interaction
Waste management industry
Waste water
Wastewater treatment
Water treatment plants
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Summary:This paper describes the impacts of the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes on the city of Christchurch's liquid waste management system (i.e. the infrastructure associated with wastewater collection, treatment and disposal). The effect on each unit operation and process is documented along with the 'state of progress' of their repair. Significant problems arose because liquefaction caused massive amounts of silt to enter the sewerage network. This affected the next system in line by overloading the main solids-handling facilities of the wastewater treatment plant. One of the quakes (22 February 2011) also resulted in a loss of power to the plant with several downstream processes in the system failing because of the difficulty of foreseeing what would happen when power was restored. Observations are offered in respect to lessons learned from the disaster, and these include issues surrounding toilet deployment and the interaction between the various components of a city's liquid waste management system.
ISSN:1028-6608
1029-0249
DOI:10.1080/10286608.2012.709507