Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant

  • Number
    4573723
  • Other name
    Liverpool STP
    Liverpool Wastewater Treatment Plant
  • Primary address

    175, Scrivener St Warwick Farm, 2170. NSW
    LGA: Liverpool City
    LGA region: Sydney
    DUAP region: Sydney West

  • Alternate Address

    176, Hendra Street Warwick Farm, 2170. NSW
    LGA: Liverpool City
    LGA code: LIVE
    LGA region: Sydney
    DUAP region: Sydney West

  • Owner
    Sydney Water
  • Current use
    Urban Sewage Treatment
  • Former use
    Urban Sewage Treatment
  • Item type
    Built
  • Item group
    Utilities - Sewerage
  • Item category
    Sewage Farm/Treatment Site
  • Parcels

    Parcel code: LOT
    Lot number: 1
    Section number:
    Plan code: DP
    Plan number: 87962
    Updated: 17 February 2003

  • Curtilage/Boundary
    The curtilage is defined by the boundary of Lot 1 in DP no.87962, as shown on the curtilage plan. .
  • Map name
    Liverpool
  • Map scale
    1 : 25000
  • Latitude
    33 55 22 S
  • Longitude
    150 56 21 E
  • AMG easting
    309559364
  • AMG northing
    6244547205
  • AMG zone
    56H
  • Statement of significance
    The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant is significant as the public utility which services the Liverpool area of Sydney and as one of the several major treatment plants serving the greater metropolitan area. The plant contains a set of structures, equipment and facilities which are representative of their function and period and which together make up a complete treatment process. The process is demonstrated by the equipment and each element of the process is physically and logically displayed. The establishment and subsequent upgrading and amplification of the Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant is evidence of the extent and historic expansion of urban settlement in the district served by the plant. The level of treatment undertaken at Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant is indicative of community expectations for sewage treatment at the time when it was designed, with subsequent alterations demonstrating rising expectations during its period of operation. The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant, therefore, has some historic and social values relating to its function and contains a set of equipment and structures that are representative of their period and type.
  • Endorsed significance
    Local

  • Designer
    Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board
  • Builder
    Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board
  • Year started
    1940
  • Year completed
    1953
  • Circa
    Yes
  • Physical description
    The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant is located on the eastern side of Scrivener Street, Liverpool, on the northern bank of the Georges River. Scrivener Street runs between the STP and the rear of Liverpool Hospital and provides a rear access into the hospital. The treatment plant is divided into two sections, currently known as the "A Works" (south side) and the "B Works" (north side). The "B Works" represents the new section of the plant and is separated from the older works by a straight, east-west roadway through the site. The plant at the present time (year 2000) is at an interim stage of modernisation, with the new works in operation alongside the earlier works, which still operate. The next phase of the modernisation is intended to see the replacement of the earlier works with expanded "B Works" facilities. A feature of the Liverpool STP is the flood mitigation and floodwater management facilities, necessary owing to the occasional inundations from the adjacent Georges River. These include a flood lift pumping station, a substantial retention basin and tall, grassed levee banks around the works. The sewage treatment plant is a staged series of processes which function to remove the majority of solid and organic material from the incoming sewage. The sewage enters the plant at the western end and is progressively treated as it flows eastwards, exiting as effluent at the east end, from where it then enters the outfall to the Georges River. The physical curtilage is defined by the property boundary of the plant. The site is largely screened from view from outside the property, as tall levee banks line the river frontage and the plant otherwise sits within a natural depression which is not overlooked.
  • Modifications made
    The "A Works" was established in the 1950s and is modified by the establishment of the "B Works" on its northern side in the 1980s.

  • History
    The first official mention of building a sewerage system for Liverpool was made in 1899. With the population at 2200, a reticulated sewerage system draining to a sewerage farm close to the Liverpool Hospital was proposed. With no proper sewerage system, conditions at Liverpool worsened as the population grew and, in 1916, the Public Works designed a new system for the town. This involved the enlargement of the septic tanks used for the hospital and included provision for the inclusion of the military camp at a later date. In 1926, the project was revived, with the Water Board being asked to take the matter in hand. The new scheme was to handle a population of 5000 including the hospital. Again, the Council resisted the cost of the scheme, which in 1931 was put at slightly over thirty one thousand pounds. In 1933, arrangements were made for the work to be carried as an Unemployment Relief Work, at a cost of forty thousand pounds, but was again abandoned. In 1936, the scheme was again considered at the request of the Council, with an agreement being reached in 1940, at a cost of over seventy seven thousand pounds. Under this, the Council was responsible for raising the capital funds, the Government for certain subsidies and the Board was to construct and operate the works. However, this scheme was derailed again owing to wartime financial constraints. The problem was finally overcome towards the end of the war when the Allied Works Council requested the Board to provide a sewerage scheme for the Royal Naval Establishment at Hargrave Park. The scheme was designed for a camp personnel of 8000, equivalent to a domestic population of 6336, with a dry weather flow of 40 gallons per head per day. It went into operation on 28th May 1945, with initial connection to the old septic tanks until the new treatment plant was completed in November 1945. On the conclusion of the war and the vacation of the Navy, the camp was converted into a temporary housing settlement. In 27th March 1950 an official ceremony was held to mark the recommencement of operations. The scheme was completed by the early 1950s, having used a mix of national and migrant labour in the process. FOR MORE INFORMATION REFER TO ATTACHMENT

  • National
    Settlement
  • State
    Utilities
  • Local
    Sewerage
  • Local description
    Relates to the planning, development, expansion and provision of sewerage services.
  • National
    Settlement
  • State
    Towns, suburbs and villages (Townships)
  • Local
    (none)

  • a) Historical
    The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant has historical significance as the first and most important sewage treatment plant built to service the growing population of Liverpool during the 20th century. The site processes and arrangement of the treatment works and outfall are a product of a century of development of sewer construction and sewage treatment undertaken by the MWS&DB and its predecessors. The development of an organised, centralised sewerage system for the Liverpool area is a product of the urban development of the area and is indicative of the period and extent of urban settlement at the time of its construction. The subsequent reconstruction and amplification of the works is further evidence of the rate of suburban expansion in south-western Sydney in the post-World War Two period. The level of treatment undertaken at the Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant is indicative of community expectations for sewage treatment at the time when it was designed, with subsequent alterations demonstrating rising expectations during its period of operation.
  • c) Aesthetic
    The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant contains a collection of processes and technologies which together represent the most developed form of secondary sewage treatment utilising an urban river outfall currently in use in NSW. The facility is neatly laid out in a landscaped setting alongside the waterfront of the Georges River and has a positive aesthetic quality despite the utilitarian nature of its activity.
  • d) Social
    The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant has no identified social significance.
  • e) Research
    The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant utilises a set of processes and technologies which, when in operation, provide an opportunity for the investigation of sewage composition, treatment and reticulation in a local context. It is one of several facilities which are capable of providing this opportunity.
  • f) Rarity
    The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant is the only sewage treatment plant operating for the Liverpool City area and is one of the few sewage treatment plants in Sydney which does not outfall to the Pacific Ocean.
  • g) Representative
    The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant is a typical sewage treatment plant for a NSW inland area in terms of the general processes undertaken, equipment and structures used and the layout and operation of the plant. It is, further, a representative example of any moderately sized sewage treatment plant with riparian effluent disposal available.
  • Integrity assessment
    The Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant is primarily a complete, modern operating plant with all structures and facilities in good condition. The few structures which remain from the establishment of the plant at this location (the "A Works") represent a substantial proportion of the original works but various components have been demolished following their replacement by operations in the "B Works". No structures remain of the earlier generations of treatment plant from pre-WW2.

  • List name
    Heritage Act - s.170 NSW State agency heritage register
  • Date listing listed
    01 January 2000

  • Title
    The Sewerage of Liverpool
  • Author
    Sydney Water Board Journal, Vol.1 No.3
  • Published
    1951

  • Sedimentation Tank in the ''''A'''' Works at Liverpool STP.
    Sedimentation Tank in the ''''A'''' Works at Liverpool STP.
    Created by: Cameron Hartnell
    Creation date: 02 May 2000
  • Sedimentation tanks in the ''''A'''' Works at Liverpool STP.
    Sedimentation tanks in the ''''A'''' Works at Liverpool STP.
    Created by: Cameron Hartnell
    Creation date: 02 May 2000
  • The physical curtilage plan for the Liverpool STP.
    The physical curtilage plan for the Liverpool STP.
    Created by: Godden Mackay Logan
    Creation date: 20 July 2000
  • The physical curtilage plan for Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant.
    The physical curtilage plan for Liverpool Sewage Treatment Plant.
    Created by: Sydney Water
    Creation date: 29 May 2006

  • Data entry status
    Basic
  • Entered
    01 December 2000
  • Updated
    05 December 2014
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