Award winning sustainable treatment process at Macclesfield Wastewater Treatment Works

United Utilities is the first UK water company to have the innovative Nuvoda Mobile Organic Biofilm™ (MOB™) process, which will help improve the water quality in the River Bollin.

MOB™ is an advanced, renewable treatment for wastewater. It is a biological approach, which uses renewable plant-based media as a carrier to support the growth of the bacteria that is used to treat wastewater. This is a development from the less sustainable plastic media that has recently been used in other wastewater treatment processes. This is part of a wider solution which allows for ammonia and phosphorus to be removed from the wastewater using biology rather than chemicals. The process also has a lower carbon footprint due to the renewable nature of the media, and no need for recycling at the end of its lifecycle. 

The process will also help to create additional treatment capacity to meet the needs of Macclesfield’s growing population and will reduce the operating costs of the treatment works. Installing this plant-based technology within the infrastructure will allow the wastewater to be treated to a much higher standard. 

The technology installed at Macclesfield has already won an Innovation Award and Pollution Control Award at the international Green Apple Environment Awards, which recognise, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world.

C2V and United Utilities hosted an engagement session at Macclesfield WwTW to provide information about the new process being implemented on site. Pranav Patel, Senior Project Manager, and Sam Beacham, Site Agent, provided an in-depth talk to visitors from the Mersey Rivers Trust, Mottram St Andrew Anglers, Friends of the River Bollin and Bollin Valley Rangers who were keen to find out about the renewable treatment for wastewater. The team finished the session with a tour of the treatment works, allowing visitors to see the new infrastructure which is currently being built.