Water Journal March 1981

! 1ssN 0310 - 0357 j Official Journal of the H

ffl•~ii;N•M~tmii=i;E:1 11

Lm-ii:f.Mi=l;W-1-i•XeJMiC•J~ 1

I Vol. 8, No. 1, March 1981 Registered for postin g as a per,od,cal . . .

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Category 'B'.

$1.00

I

DeZURIK valves designed for every waste treatment application.

ECCENTRIC CONTROL VALVES

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~ Eccentric Valves with powered

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Automatic Flow Control , Remote On-off Valve Operation

GRIT DISPOSAL

BAR SCREENS

COMPRESSED AIR CHLORINE CONTACT TANKS

PUMP STATION

CLEAN EFFLU ENT DISPOSAL KNIFE GATE VALVES

RAW SEWAGE

CHEMICAL ADDITIVES

SLUDGE CONDITIONING

KNIFE GATE VALVES DeZ URIK Knife Gates stand up to the to ughest shutoff and throttling appli cation s. Compact size makes them id eal for pump suction and discharge appl ications and for general isolation service . Rugged construction also makes them ideal for corrosive services as well as for slurries and dry materials. Typical applications include : Raw Sewage , Sludge , Grit and Grit Slurries , Dry Chemicals , Dry Ash and Ash Slurries.

, INCINERATORS ASH DISPOSAL

ECCENTRIC VALVES The DeZUR IK Eccentric Plug Valve is ideal for sh utoff , throttling and iso lation se rvice throughout th e treatm ent process. It's the most nearly universal waste treatment valve.

Applications include: Air, Water and Gas, Liqu id Chemicals , Raw Sewage , Raw and Primary Sludge , Activated and Digested Sludge , Concentrated Sludge and Grit Slurries.

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EDITORIAL Chairman, C. D. Parker F. R. Bishop Mary Drikas E. A. Swinton T. M. Smyth Dr. Barbara Bowles C. Tucak J. H. Greer C. Coucouvinis C. Weeks R. Camm R. McGrath P. R. Hughes Editor: H. Wilson G. R. Goffin Publisher: A.W.W.A.

BRANCH CORRESPONDENTS CANBERRA A.C .T. C. Coucouvinis, C/· River Murray Commission, P.O. Box 409, Canberra City, 2601 062-480-177 NEW SOUTH WALES T. M. Smyth, G. H. & D. Pty. Ltd., P.0. Box 219, Neutral Bay Junction, 2089.

02-908-2399 VICTORIA E. A. (Bob) Swinton, C.5.1.R.0., P.O. Box 310, South Melbourne 3205.

03-699-6711 QUEENSLAND P. R. Hughes, P.O . Box 276, lndooroopilly, 4068.

07-378-9111 .

SOUTH AUSTRALIA Mrs. M. Drikas, State Water Laboratories E. & W. 5. Private Mail Bag Salisbury 5108.

08-258-1066 WESTERN AUSTRALIA C. M. Tucak , 18 Ventor Ave., W. Perth 6005 09-321-2421 TASMANIA

R. Camm, C/· Met. Water Board, Macquarie St., Hobart.

002-30-2330 NORTHERN TERRITORY H. Wilson, Water Div. Dept. of Transport & Works, P.O. Box 2520, Darwin NT 5794.

089-81-2450 EDITORIAL & SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE G. R. Goffin, 7 Mossman Dr., Eaglemont 3084, 03-459-4346 ADVERTISING Mrs. L. Geal, Appita, 191 Royal Pde., Parkville 3052.

03-347-2377 WATER

Officia~ Journal of the

!AUSTRALIA WATER AND) !WASTE WATEJfASSOCIATION I Vol. 8, No. 1 March 1981

CONTENTS Viewpoint ...... ... .. ............ .. ................. .

7

Association News, Views and Comment . . .... ......... . .

8

People . . .. . ...... ... . ... ....... ...... . . .... .. ... . .. .

12

I.A.W.P.R. News ......... . . .. .. . . ...... .. . ...... ..... .

13

The Philosophy of Australian Water Legislation - Part Ill - Sandford D. Clark ... . . ... . ..... . .. . .. ...... .. . .

14

Index to Water - 1980 . . .... ..... . ..... .... ......... . . .

16

Industrial Waste Treatment

by Direct Aerobic Digestion - J. G. Parker, B. J. Lyons and C. D. Parker

17

Desalination - State of the Art - 1980 - E. A. Swinton . .. ... . . . . ... .. ... . ............ .. .

21

Estimated Annual Water Use in Australia - B. Klaassen .... .. . .. ..... .... . ....... ... ..•....

25

Deep Shaft Activated Sludge Process .... . .............. .

27

Book Reviews . .... ... . . ..... .. ...... . .. ... .' .. .... .

27-28

Calendar ........................ . . . ..... . . ......... .

28

Figure 2 omitted from December issue paper - Subiaco WWTP -

29

A.

J. Gale ...... . . .. .

COVER STORY The Fre shwater Creek Water Treatment Plant at Cairns, North Queensland, was comp leted in October 1980. It provides water treated to World Health Organisa tion Standards for Cairns and nearby urban areas of the Mu/grave Shire.

The plam tis environmentally s ited on a tropical rain forested hillside, and ha s

a capacity of 55 ML/da y, with provision for future duplication .

Design and project managem ent were carried out by Gutteridge Haskins and Davey Pty Ltd for th e Cairns-Mu/grave Water Supply Board.

SEWAGE ODO~ONTROL with ACTIVATED CARBON SIMPLE

RELIABLE

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ECONOMICAL

The AQUA-WRIGHT SOC units are specially designed for sewage odour control. Utilising ~RANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON they have proven completely effective in eliminating citizen odour complaints .

Granular activated carbon adsorption is being applied to control odours at more and more sewage treatment and pumping plants. Odourous air is collected and passed through a bed of granular activated carbon. Hydrogen su lphide and odour causing organics are stripped from the air and stored in the carbon . Purified air is vented to the atmosphere. Virtually total odour removal is achieved, irrespective of whether the odourants are present in high, low or varying concentrations, in large or small air flows.

Our systems are based on improved activated carbon technology to give you a more efficient and economic approach to sewage treatment plant odour control. Complete packaged adsorption units are available in flows from 35 to 3000 litres/second. The units are built with corrosion resistant materials and are engineered so that noise and maintenance are minimised . The only moving part is the blower/motor assembly.

For SIMPLICITY, RELIABILITY & ECONOMY in sewage odour control, write or telephone us today.

AQUA-WRIGHT A division of Wright and Company Pty. Ltd. Head-office 32-40 Maddox St., Alexandria, NSW 2015, Tel. 51-3371, Telex 24237 Branches in Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth 2

WATER

Whatever the pipe, there's a

to clean it, test it and de-water it at lower than 11 normal costs!

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When pressure is applied to the base, the polyurethane is forced to expand against the pipe wall. This provides a tight seal and exerts a scrapi ng action as th e Pig travels through the line.

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WATER

(AUSTRALIA} PTY. LTD. UHiJ,i

7 George Place, Artarmon / P.O. Box 565, N.S.W. 2064 Phone: 428 3700 / Telex: AA24489 7 Greenwood St, Abbotsford/ P.O. Box 67, Vic 3067 Phone: 41 5381 / Telex: AA32227 49 Hay St, Subiaco / P.O. Box 569, West PerthW.A 6005 Phone: 38 1 4200 / Telex: AA93374

PIPlUN[ -PUNl-mtfSS

EQUIPMENT

3

"To think, this simple oxygen process can help eliminate problems of odour and corrosion in sewerage sysleffl!;:sor Julius Sumn~r Miller

,,

The problem of fou l odours and corros ion in sewe r mains is noth ing new .

But it has been on ly recent ly t ha t man has come t o grips w ith t hese two related prob lems.

Unt il now, various chemica ls have been used to help eliminate t he odour. Unfortunate ly, these are costly , and produce a more diffi cu lt -to-treat sewage. However, now there has been a major breakthrough . It comes in the form of an exciting revolutionary process cal led CIG Sewer Sweeten ing.

It's simp le, effective and extreme ly economica l.

Basically it involves the injection of pure oxygen into the sewer mains .

This allows the oxygen breath ing (aerobic) sewage bacteria , wh ich is norma lly starved of oxygen in enc losed cond itions, to actively continue to break down the o rgan ic con t ent

without the excess presence of hydrogen sulphide.

And oxygen dosing is not expensive . Costs per kilolitre are generally around half the cost of chem ical oxidising or sterilising agents .

Developed in Australia for Australian conditions, SEWER SWEETENING is a natural solution to a natural problem .

Already there are many successful installations throughout Australia and many councils who will readily confirm its effectiveness .

For more information write to CIG Limited, 138 Bourke Road, Alexandria NSW 2015.

C G891 / 79

WATER

5

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The P600 uses a modern brushless stepper motor and a conductive plastic feedback slidewire .for durability and reliability It carries our standard 2 year guarantee, and you'll be pleasantly surprised by it's quality, price and delivery.

Isn't it time you became a believer?

BBC BROWN BOVERI

Kent Instruments (Australia) Pty Ltd Sydney (02) 525 2811 Melbourne (03) 8741233

Adelaide Brisbane

(08) 352 1455 (07) 36 1311

Perth

(09) 277 5377 PJ 2879

6

WATER

VIEWPOINT

!AUSTRALIAN WA T ER AND! !WASTEWATER ASSOC IAT ION!

FEDERAL PRE S !DENT

D. J . Lane, State Water Laboratories, E & W.S. Department , Private Mail Bag, Sa li sbury, 5108 FEDERAL SECRETARY

P. Hughes, Box A232 P.O. Sydney South , 2000 .

FEDERAL TREASURER

J . H. Greer, Cl- M.M.B.W. , 625 Lt . Coll ins St., Melbourne, 3000.

BRANCH SECRETAR IES

Canberra, A.C.T. D. Coucouvinis, ¡ Cl-River Murray Commiss ion , P.O. Box 409 ,

Canberra City, 2601 . (480-177) New South Wales R. M. Lehman, Sin c lair Knight & Partners, 2 Chandos St. , St. Leonards, 2065. (439-2866) Victoria J. Park, S.R .W .S.C. ,

Operator Training Centre , P.O . Box 409 ,

Werribee, 3030. (741 -5844) Queens land J . Ryan, Cl- Gutteridge Haskin s and Davey , G.P.O . Box 668K,

Brisbane, 4001 . (221-7 955) South Australia A. G latz, State Water Laboratories, E. & W.S. Private Mail Bag, Sa li sbury, 5108. (258-1066) Western Austra li a R. Loo , 455 Beach Rd. , Carine . (09-447-6550) Tasmania P. E. Spratt, Cl- Fowler, England & Newton , 132 Davey St. , Hobart, 7000 . (237-591) Northern Territory K. Sajdeh, Water Div. Dept. of Transport & Works , P.O . Box 25 20,

Darwin, N.T. 5794. (895 -511) WATER

TODAY'S WATER MANAGEMENT ISSUE - WATER QUALITY Th e objecti ve of th e Interna ti onal Water Supply and Sa nitation Decad e is that by 1990 all communiti es be prov id ed with a safe drinking water supply. Knowing th e vast numb er of people in developing co untri es without this basic necessity, thi s will be a giga ntic task.

In developed co untries such as Austral ia the need to provide pub lic wa ter suppli es is not a hea lth iss ue. However the qualit y of many public water suppli es is frequ entl y below recognised stand ard s while th e acce ptabili ty o f ot hers is being questi oned in relation to recently id entified co nstitu ents which may affect health. Wate r qu ality is with out doubt Aust rali a's water management iss ue today. ,ii

Whil e quality ma nagement is important fo r a ll uses of wa ter, prio rity is naturall y given to drinking water qu alit y. Quality ma nagement in this instance mu st include co ntrol of ca tchment areas , sto rages, trea tm ent faci li ties and distri buti on systems . l f below accepta ble standard s th e quality of drin king wa ter freq uentl y attracts a great deal of pub li cit y, pa rti cula rly where th ere is a hea lth risk involved . For exa mple in Western Australia in 1980 fa tal cases of amoebic meningitis and th e possible association with a water supply sys tem received front page a ttention for almost a week. This topic was news again ea rly in 1981 fo ll owi ng a case of amoebic meningitis in Whyalla, So uth Australi a and th e sub sequent isolati on o f pat hoge ni c amoebae fr om the reticul ated water supply. Another exa mp le of continuin g publicity co ncerns th e qu ality of wat er in the Ri ver Murray, part icularly with regard to salinit y.

There are no legal sta ndards as such for th e qualit y of drinking wa ter in Australia . Each water or health authority concern ed has in fo rm all y adopted qu ality objecti ves, influ enced by local co nditions and th e general acceptability o f th e water. However, in 1969 within th e Biennial Conference of Engineers representing th e major Water Supply & Sewage Auth orities of Austra lia, Criteria a nd Objecti ves fo r water q uali ty fo r the capital citi es of Aust ra lia were established. These have provided very usefu l guidelines in the opera tio n of wa ter supply systems a nd in th e des ign of water treatment fac ilities .

In 1980 the Na tional Health & Medi al Research Co uncil , in association with the Australian Water Resources Co un cil developed a nd published 'G uidelines for Drinking Water Quality in Australi a' . These guid elines will prov ide a co mm on basis for water and health auth oriti es in each Sta te to consid er water qu ali ty obj ecti ves for particul a r suppli es.

The determina ti o n of water qu ali ty objecti ves fo r Aust rali an wa ter suppli es has been influ enced by the World Health Orga nisa ti o n Internati onal Standard s for Drinking Water.

These sta nd ard s, last pub lished in 197 1, are presentl y under rev iew with the aim of producing early in 1982 a doc um ent entitled 'G ui deli nes fo r Drinking Water Quality' . This publica tion will consist of two pa rts, a summ a ry outlin ing recommended levels off qu ali ty and a supporting docum ent settin g out th e rati onale behind eac h recommend a tion. Thi s is a new approach by W. H .O . a nd should give au th orit ies some fl ex ibili ty in determining quality objectives in relati on to local conditio ns.

One of the mos t top ical wa ter q ualit y iss ues concerns th e presence o f organic co mpounds in wa ter . Some of these compo und s have tox ic or carcinogenic prop erti es, although the significance of micro qu antities fo und in water is not yet clear. Of parti cular int erest in this regard a re the halogenated orga ni cs which may be form ed in wa ter as th e res ult of disinfection processes.

Mo re research is needed on wa ter qualit y. A high propo rti on of resea rch gran ts recently made ava ila ble by th e Commonwealth Governm ent through the Australian Water Resources Co uncil Water Resea rch Fund are for water qu alit y projects. Despite thi s the a mount of money spent o n water research in Austra li a is pitifully small in view of the impo rtance of wate r to th e nati on. T he Standing Committ ee o n Science a nd Techn ology of this Association is currentl y ma king a n assessment of the exte nt of water research in Australia to dr aw attentio n to this matter.

Wa ter qu ali ty ma nagement wheth er related to potable wa ter or to irri gation, recrea tion or industrial water, is an integral part of the obj ectives of th e Austra li an Wa ter & Wastewater Associatio n. The ado ption of a n Associati on Po licy aimed at encouraging th e overal l im provement of water quali ty in Austra li a cou ld be seriously consid ered .

At the Biennial Co nvent ion o f the Associa ti on to be held in Sydn ey in 1983 th e general th eme wi ll be water qua li ty, with a special seg ment on the qu ali ty of drin king water. Through this Conventi on and th e action whi ch is li kely to fl ow fr om such a meetin g th e Associa tion will ma ke a signi fica nt co ntr ibu tion o n thi s import a nt a nd topica l wa ter ma nage ment iss ue. ¡ DOUG LANE Federal P resi dent

7

ASSOCIATION NEWS VIEWS AND COMMENTS PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE During my term of office as President this column of the Journal will be used a s a means of communication between Federal Council and members , to supplement the link presently effected to Branches through Federal Councillors.

Federal Secretariat

Mr. Peter Hughes has advised Council that after April 1981 he will no longer be able to continue as Federal Secretary of the Associa. tion . Peter is now Engineer-in-Chief of the Sydney Water Board and not surprisingly he finds that he is unable to carry out the Association's work effectively. The Association has been very fortunate in having the excellent services and guidance of Peter Hughes for some 4 years.

The Executive is examining ways of maintaining an effective Federal Secretariat, in the light of the Secretary's resignation and an announcement in this respect will be made at the Perth Convention.

Association Award Paper

BRA NC H ACTIVITI ES Our last meetin g fo r 1980 was on water with a difference . . . the "wo nd erful and total ex tin gui shing resource" . This was a lecture we ca n reco mm end to any oth er Branch .

Mr. Ba rry Lee, Techn ica l Directo r o f Wormald Interna ti onal , in a rapid-fi re approach, ou tlined more angles o n fire extingui shing by water than we wo uld have thought possibl e, in one ho ur flat.

ex pl os ive no zzles, so th at the total res ponse of th e va lves a nd pipin g is less than 100 milli seco nds.

Water , of co urse, has it s disadvantages .

The danger o f electric shock, ex plos ive reactio ns wit h hot meta ls such as magnesi um a nd tit anium , and th e fact that it freezes in cooler climates tha n ou rs are readily a pprec iated.

Ne ith er ca n it be used for cryoge ni c liquids, such as L.N .G., because instead o f coo li ng, the liquid wa ter hea ts the fuel a nd causes even fas ter evaporat io n . No ne the less, it is still the primary a nd mos t economi cal age nt , not o nl y

Best Convention

Council has decided to make an Award for the best paper submitted for the Perth and subsequent Conventions. This Award, which will be presented at each Biennial Convention will be known as the Michael Flynn Award.

The late Dr. Michael Flynn, a former Federal President, contributed greatly to the work of the Association and Council considers it appropriate that his name should be permanently linked with this important Award.

Publicity Material A new leaflet setting out the objectives of the Association and with a tear-off application card is now available. A more comprehensive brochure designed to enhance the public image of the Association, is being prepared by the Standing Committee on Publicity and Education .

Papers Presented at Conventions and Summer Schools The list of papers inserted into the December issue of "Water" was originally prepared by the Standing Committee on Science and Technology to provide a summary of the topics that had been addressed at Association Federal meetings, to assist in the planning of future Convention papers. This information has been excellently re-arranged by the Journal Editor Mr . George Goffin and copies of the earlier papers are available from the Federal Secretary.

DOUG LANE

8

VICTORIA

Model of Wastewater Control Centre , Mo rningt on, Vic. Wat er ext ingui shes fir e by coo ling, the rate of heat tra nsfer fro m the fire bein g related to the sur face area o f th e droplet s, but they ca nnot be too sma ll otherw ise they wi ll never reac h the target area. Water can be improved by various additi ves: • wetting agent s ... give better sp read , but th e smaller drops can be lost by windage .

• thi ck wate r . to in crease res idence time o n ve rti ca l surfaces. e.g . bush fir e gelling agents.

• ab lat ive water . . . even more viscous, to penetra te the co lossa l updrau ght in a tall buildin g, and th en to fo rm a coa tin g over th e fue l sur faces.

• slippery water . . to redu ce fri ctio n in pipes and hoses.

• foaming water . . . to form a viscous blanket o ver liquid fuel s. The most mod ern development, " A.F.F .F.", gives a stab le foam o ne thou sand tim es th e vo lum e of the water content. It s effecti ve ness was demo nstrated by a ser ies o f sli des cove ring a n a ir port disaster, from cras h and igniti on , to fireba ll, then ext in ct ion by A.F.F.F. all in 75 seco nds.

Mr. Lee then covered the philosop hy of sprinkler sys tem des ign, to cove r medium a nd hi gh hazard situations, fini shin g with a desc ripti o n of ultra-hi gh speed sprink lers for chemi ca l processes, with radi ation se nsors reactin g in 2 to 3 milliseconds, triggering

for dom es tic and co untry situ ati o ns, but alp in th e more dmand ing environment o f modern tec hnol ogy a nd hi gh rise buildings.

Our Feb ruary meeti ng is no w virt uall y a trad ition, taking advantage of the Melbouni,e summer to visit a treat ment plant , and th e'h share chi cken, champagne and co nvivialit y in th e coo l of the eve ning. .

This yea r we were in vit ed to the ne\V Morn ington Peninsu la Was tewater Co ntrol Cen tre No. 2 - courtesy of the Mornington Sewerage At.t hority , which is a model plant in eve ry sense of the wo rd (so we show a picture of th e model!) and has a number of inno va ti o ns . . . the most outstandin g bein g th e Plant Operator ... so mu ch so as to merit special menti on - see in thi s iss ue .

Meanwhile, back at the Pla nt. This regional installation was designed by G. H . & D. fo r progressive stage deve lop ment to cope with an ultim ate loadin g exceedin g 100,000.

Stage I A now in o peration will se rve a n equi va lent po pul atio n of 25 -30,000. It is a co nve nti o nal activated slud ge treatment process utilising fin e a ir diffu sion , aerobic slud ge digesti on a nd di sposa l o f th e efflu ent to the MMBW Eastern o utfa ll. The pla nt has co mputeri sed control a nd monit oring techniqu es and ultim ate reuse of th e water was a factor in the des ign considerati o ns .

Some sixty memb ers, wives a nd guests made it a most enj oya bl e and rewa rdin g

WATER

ASSOCIATION

•

NEWS

•

VIEWS

afternoon. T he sup port could have been greater but th e qu a lit y made up fo r th e defi ciency in numbers. Bra nch Pres ide nt All an Longs ta ff has rece ntly made pert inent com ment on the att enda nce a t Bra nch fu nctio ns of thi s nature - do we lack a socia l sense or a re we just in ert ?

Ma rch 24th (as we go to press) will see th e presentat ion o f several sho rt pa pers by grad ua tes of the Environmenta l Engi nee ri ng Cou rse of t he Uni versity o f Melbo urn e. P ro f.

Jac k Lawson will pro vide int roducto ry co mm ent.

ti ary a nd furth er edu cati o n fo r the A borigin al people. Resto ration measures include replace ment of the o ld septi c tank system by sewerage a nd treatment ponds a nd t he provision o f a new wa ter system a nd services .

Cost is of the order of $600,000.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

D A R WIN WA TER SUPPLY A UGMEN TA TION A furth er stage in a ugme nta tio n has been completed wi th t he constru ct io n o f a 36 ML rein fo rced co ncrete reservoir a nd pum ping station at Marra rra, adj acent to Da rwi n 's no rth ern suburbs . This work , completed a t some $ 1. 8 million will ass ist th e supply system to meet th e dema nd s of th e dry season.

BRA NC H ACTIVITI ES

Th e fi rst meeting of the year o n Febru a ry 18th at the Builders Associat ion Buildin g, was very much a wo r king sess io n whi ch co nsidered , am o ngs t ot her ma tt ers, a repo rt fro m the Wo rkin g P a rt y exa minin g th e feas ibilit y of a n Internat io nal Co nfere nce at Da rwin, in th e future.

At the tim e o f go in g to press , th e Ma rch act ivit y was still und er co nsidera ti on , with th e possibilit y o f a n evening o n trade wastes.

TERRIT ORY NEWS

NEW TOP APPOINTMEN T The new Secretar y o f th e Depa rtment of T ra nsport a nd Works is R. J . (R odd) U nwin , who took up hi s duti es in Febru a ry.

Mr. Unwin (37), a Civil En gineer, brin gs to hi s a ppo intm ent a wealth of ex perience ga in ed in t he management of major proj ects in the minin g industry, in vo lvi ng const ructio n a nd ma intena nce o f rai lways, o re ha ndling, wha rves, smeltin g fac ilities, sewerage a nd power genera tio n.

He was a Director a nd Manager of Civil a nd Ma intena nce P / L a nd Ma nager o f Flu or's Rail way Di visio n in W. A. a nd will co ntri bute much to the strength in the Ter ri to ry.

WE T STA RT TO THE YEA R In a year of weather reco rds, in cl ud ing droughts a nd heat wa ves in the South , Da rwin , no t to be outdon e has sta rted o ff I 98 1 with t he wettest Ja nuary o n record 905.8 m m. O ver th e t hree days of Jan ua ry 2 123, a 1438 mm fa ll was recorded a nd caused rea l problems to Engin eers o f the Wa ter Di visio n o f Tra nspo rt a nd Work s in copin g with th e res ul tin g problems with the sewerage system.

MA RY A NN RECREATIONA L DAM The 'wet ' ga ve a fl yin g start to thi s new storage (see last iss ue). The heavy seasonal rai ns of la te Ja nu ary gave Tenna nt C reek 57 mm of rain in two ho urs o n t he 19th and a furth er 125 mm o n th e 22 nd -23 rd whi ch fill ed the 450 M L storage in sho rt o rd er a nd produced a spi ll way discha rge with so me 30 cm ove r th e cres t.

R UM J UNGL E RE VITALIZED T he o ld minin g tow n of Ba tchelo r , so mu ch a pa rt of A ustra li a's . ent ry into the ura nium era has received a new lease o f life.

Batchelo r is to beco me th e ce nt re for terWA TER

DAR W IN SEWERAGE EXTENSIONS Two of the remaining un sewered a reas o f 'G reater' Darw in have now been sewered , incl uding the sma ll a rea o f Myilly Terrace in th e heart of th e City. Thi s proved a diffi cult project with all excavat io n in ha rd rock .

EFFL UEN T REUSE -

A LICE SPRINGS

E fflu e nt from the trea tment lagoo ns a t the A li ce is now bei ng used fo r t he irrigati o n of 6 ha pla nted with po pla r, mou nta in ash a nd red ri ver gum s.

Th e proj ect will preve nt th e seepage of efflu ent into the nearby Ilparpa Swa mp a nd will , in fu t ure, provide th e town with a so urce of fi rewood. Mo nit o ring holes will permi t t he co ntinu al checkin g of soil co nditio ns in the pla nt ati on.

Thi s is a jo int project by the Depa rtment o f Tra nsport a nd Wo rk s and th e Commo nwealt h Co mmi ssio n of th e No rthern Terri to ry.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA BRA NC H NEWS

There has been a ma rk ed lack of Bra nch meetin gs fo r two reaso ns. Firstl y, to all ow members to wo rk up a grea ter appetit e fo r th e fo rth co ming 9th Federal Con ve nti o n a nd seco ndly, to permit th e Con ve nti on Committee to work unint errupt ed by Bra nch dema nds. T he Co mmittee now meets regula rly to ensure compl ete coverage of all th e fin er po int s - all with the o bj ect of achi ev ing wha t we ho pe will be a most success ful Con ventio n .

Th e t rade ex hi bitio n to be held in co njun ction wit h the Co nve ntion has alread y at tracted a 100 % space a llocati o n. The exhibiti o n will receive a max imum o f publi cit y a t th e o penin g a nd du ring th e weeks' acti vit y a nd if prev io us ex hibit s a re a ny indi ca ti on, th ere will be q ueues o f visitors. Th e only di sa pp o intment is th a t two potenti al Susta inin g Members, th e Pl ay ho use a nd P enthou se gro ups we re late in ma kin g a submi ssio n , Bo b Fimmel, trade ex hibiti o n orga ni se r is st ill suffering a n at tack of th e bends o n right and left a rms as a res ult.

Enro lm ent s for the Con ve ntion a re excellent a nd a la rge perce nt age o f registrant s have take n ad vantage of the Singapore pac kage. A sco ut has alread y go ne ahead to Singapore to ensure th ere will be T echnica l a nd Educa ti ve

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COMMENT

benefi ts to all pa rti cipa nts. A fl eet of trisha ws has been placed on standb y for those persons sufferin g leg fati gue after the prev iou s wee ks Swa n Brewery site inspect io n .

Thi s being the first Federa l Co nve nti on fo r W .A. 's u p a nd coming Bra nch we a re mak ing every effort to ensure it is a most success ful o ne.

W e look forwa rd to meeting all t he visitors to o ur Sta te o n Ap ril 6th to 10th, 198 1.

SWAN BREWERY- CA NNIN G VALE Th e December iss ue featured the Swan Brewery as its fro nt cover sto ry a nd as ma ny visitors fo r th e Co nve ntion 111 be to uring th e in sta ll a ti o n , including of course, th e was tewater treatment pl a nt , som e detail s of the produ ct line itself will be of int eres t .

Th e beer produ ced by Swa n needs no co mme nt as 'a good wine needs no bu sh ' .

Th e producti o n complex conta in s 30 brew ing vats ca pable o f produ cin g 19,000 cubic metres o f go ld en bro wn brew.

Fro m the hoppers receiving th e raw ma teri a ls to the loading o ut of th e fi nished produ ct , o pera ti o ns a re int ensely mec hani sed a nd ma inl y co mput er controlled . It is th e most a ut oma ted a nd modern in sta ll at ion of it s kind in th e southern hemi sph ere a nd , until rece ntl y, in the wo rl d .

T o urs of th e Brewery foll ow carpeted glass wa ll ed observation corrid o rs in which a mu seum of earl y brew ing eq uipment, much o f it of medi eval a ppeara nce, a nd ea rl y record s a re ca refull y preserved. The ex hibit s include the o ri gina l leath er sa fety helm et complete with visor fi tted wit h wipers, a nd a whi stl e fo r emerge ncies !

Th e inspecti o n ro ute termin a tes with a view ove r th e bo ttlin g a nd canning section where t he speed of acti vity is awesome . A co ntinu o us line o f cans o n co nveyors a re steril ised, cl ea ned , fill ed, sea led a nd pas teurised , cooled , la belled a nd pac ked a t the ra te o f 1500 ca ns per minufe . Bot tles, bein g larger, a re a little slower at 1000 per minut e !

It has been suggested th a t the Con venti o n to urs should include a tea m co nsumptio n ma tch o f visitors versus loca ls versus the produ cti o n line, but eve n the most enthusiastic co nsum ers a re hav ing seco nd thou ghts.

Th e Brewe ry buildings cove r approx im a tely 2.5 ha on a sit e of 60 ha. Em ployee st rength is 580 a nd the faciliti es for perso nn el include an exce llent res tau rant, ba rs, sq uas h a nd tenni s courts a nd other recrea tional a reas whi ch fa mili es a re enco uraged to use.

T he Swa n Brewery provides a n un equa ll ed opport unit y fo r a Conventi o n si te visit . Come a lon g a nd see it for yourself.

A.C.T. First Bra nch meetin g for t he yea r was o n Febru ary 26th when Do n Macleod, Directo r of Ma unse ll a nd P a rtners, Co nsultin g E ngineers, Ca nberra , gave a ta lk o n a top ic of great inte res t a nd currently at tracting a lot o f a ttention - The Murray Valley Salinit y and Drainage Study .

Salt content o f th e Murray a nd res ultin g salin a tio n a nd associated problems effects a tremend o us a rea a nd is of co urse, of maj o r imp ort a nce to th e Sta te Governme nts o f

9

ASSOCIATION .S.W., Victoria a nd S. Austra li a a nd a lso th e Commonwea lth.

Mr. Macleod gave an overview of th e report commiss ioned by th e Murra y Va lley Study Steering Com mitt ee.

In mid Apri l, the Branch will_ be holdin g a Water Studies Information Exchange Se minar for the intercha nge of information on studi es a nd proposed studi es in th e releva nt field s.

Act ivities planned for later in th e yea r include guest speak ers from th e C.S. l.R .O. and a meeting when speak ers from the A.N.U. will talk o n the acti viti es of the Centre for Review a nd Environm enta l Studi es of the Au strali a n Nat ion al Uni versity .

Clive Pri ce who has se rved the Bra nch in sterling fa shi o n over a number of years as a Branch Committee man a nd President an d as a Co un cill or is withdrawi ng fro m Co unci l. · Hi s bu siness in terests a re dema nding and he fee ls that movement in Council rep rese ntati o n is desirable. The Bra nch is· most appreciat ive of the service rend ered by Cli ve and exp resses it s gratitud e.

NEW SOUTH WALES BRA NC H ACTIVITY

A C hri st mas Part y at ' La Maison' in Gladesville terminated the I 980 activities .

Numbers were down but th e 75 members a nd friends attending had a most enj oya bl e evenin g - Jack Herron of th e Sydney Board was consi dered "the premier dancer of th e ni ght.

The first technica l session for 198 I was an inspection of th e H ydraulics laboratories of the Publi c Work s Departtnent a nd Sydney Water Board at Manl y Va le where displays and descriptions of the work ing mod els were given to 50 A WWA members by engineers respon sible for th e mod el investi gations. The model wo rk seen included: Eden Harbour Model (PWD) - Used in the study of wave heights resulting from va ri ous brea kwa ter confi gurations visual and cha rt printout in minutes from co mputer.

CH Hall Dam Spillway (PWD) - Investigations into spillway approach shapes to mini mi se flume side wall depth s, and to optimise o n flip -bucket configura tion to minimi se downstream sco ur.

Pilot Filtration Plant (PWD) - Evaluations of the performance of various filt er medi a t ypes and combinations lo a d ed und er optimum chemical dosing and flo cculation co nditio ns. Media types include co nve ntional sand, tri -medi a, dual medi a, mono medium ·of varying grain sizes, a nd upflow-coarse medi um .

Observation s include the measurement of raw water a nd effluent turbidy and co lour as well as filter headless profiles.

Work is also a bou t to commence on a filt er backwash pilot plant.

Chipping Norton Lakes Scheme (PWD) Th e Chippin g Norto n "bill abong" is being created by sa nd extract ion. Model test ing suggested island and isthmu s co nfi guration s a nd sha pes to ensure regular tidal flu shing.

Avon Spillway (MWSDB) - Low discha rges over the la byrinth spillway ca used nappe 10

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VIEWS

vibra tions resulting in reso nant noi se levels up to l 38dB. Thi s resulted in vib ration a nd distress to occupants of dwellings so me di sta nce from the spillway. Not am ena ble to theoret ical so lution, the problem was solved by trial and error resulting in the epoxy ing coarse grave l along t he spillway crest.

The February meet ing on th e 17th made less physical dem a nds on members when J .F. Skidmore of the N.S .W. Institute of T echnology gave an interesting talk at the Royal Automobi le C lub on "Biological Aspects of Water Management and Fish Toxico logy Testing as a Means of Con trol ".

Meetings scheduled for the balance of the fir st half of the year include: 6-8 March . Wee kend Regional Conference 1981. 'Water into the Hunter Valley'. A neat and comprehensive brochure coveri ng this event was di stributed early in the year and the next iss ue of ' Water ' will carry a report on the Conference activities.

The programme provided for pleasant preliminaries in th e way of a golf day and in forma l get together on the Friday afternoon and evening with a full day of techni ca l sess io ns on the Saturday, with tours for the ladi es.

Sunday offered a visi t and inspection of the Akan A luminium Sme lter at Kurri Kurri follow ed by a barbecue lunch and visit to the Hermitage Win ery at Pokolbin.

16 July. Symposium on 'I nstrumentatio n and Control' jointly spon sored by A WWA , University of N.S.W. and the Institute of Instrumentation and Control.

STATE

EWS

MOVE ON SYDNEY'S OCEAN OUTFALLS Th e ocean di scharge of sewage, in earlier years untreated and latterly partially treated has been a fo cus of criti cism in Sydney for genera tions a nd th e M . W. S. & D . Bd. has taken various steps to ameli orate t he problems over ma ny years.

The Board has now moved a step closer to the construction of $ I 00 million deepwater submarine outfalls for the three major outfa ll s at Bondi, Malabar a nd North Head wit h the calling of wor ld -wide tenders for offshore seabed drilling as a prelimina ry to design of th e outfa lls.

T end ers closed on February 17th and postulated completion dates for the outfalls a re 1987, 1988 a nd 1989.

DROUGHT IN A HOT CL/MA TE The Sydney ca tchments are now well int o their third year of drought and this summer has brought high temperatures and all-time dail y wat er consumptio ns by metropol ita n consumers.

The M.W.S. and D. Bd . has the mammoth task of supplying three and a quarter million consumers and even with an eight years storage capacity, had to iss ue a note of caution to the pub li c.

In November, record consumptions were reached and surpassed . On the I 9th 2863 megalit res (640 million gallons in old fas hi oned term s) were drawn from the system.

With storages still holdin g some 60 percent of their operating capacity th e supply sys tem

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COMMENT

was con sidered sat isfactory and rest riction s not necessary - but - watch that wa steful extravagance! as Butler says - 'don't spend water as thou gh it was money! ' DUBBO WATER TREATMEN T PLANT A new plant has been recent ly commi ssioned for the City of Dubbo . Built at a cost of $3. 5 million, the plant was designed and supervised by Gutteridge Haskins and Davey fo llowin g ea rli er proposals by City Engineer John Gilbert .

The plant capacity is 33 ML/ da y with provision for increase to 41 ML/ day a nd it will treat water from the Ma quarie River a nd strip free CO, from water drawn from a number of bores .

The river water is of widely varying turbidity a nd colour and is hard . Th e bore water, whilst of low turbidity and colour is a lso hard.

The plant primarily operates to soften and clarify the river water and to remove CO , from the bore water but it is fl ex ible an d can softe n t he water from the bores.

The plant co nsists of a solids contact clari fier a nd rapid gravity sand filter s with automatic airscour assisted self-backwashing.

The clarifier function s as a softener with lim e addition for soften ing and coagulation and ferric chloride or activated si lica as a flocculant aid . Soda ash is added when permanent ha rdness levels are high .

After th e clari fiers, the water is stabi lised with carbon dioxide generated from L.P. gas .

A forced draft strippin g tower reduces th e free CO , from th e bore water .

The river and bore waters are blended in a clear wat er tank and ch lorinated and fluori dat ed.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

.,

BRANCH ACTIVITIES A WWA activiti es in S . Au st. wi ll commen ce with a meeting on March 27th when Dr. Noel Norman of Australian Paper Manufacturers Ltd. will talk on 'Water Related Problems in the Paper Industry' . Th e meeting format will be chan ged to provide a buffet meal before the meeting proper as poss ibl y offer in g a congen ia l meetin g occasion to members.

The second meeting for the year will be on May 29th - a joint acti vity with the H ydrological Society. John Waterhouse of Coffee and Partners and Don Armstrong of the Department of Mines and Energy will provide a joint presentation on 'Dewatering of the Bowmans Trial Coal Pit'.

Members are asked to keep the fo ll ow ing forward dates free for meetings: 24th July, 25t h September a nd 20th November. Details of topics and papers wi ll be ad vised lat er.

STATE NEWS

THE RIVER LAND REGION SALINITY Sou th Australia, and in particular the Riverland Region , relies on the River Murray for its water supply and for the irri gat ion of its farm s and orchards but the Murray is threa tened by sa linity. Victoria and New South Wa les co ntribute abo ut 64 percent of

WATER

I I I

Ji

A SSOC/A TION the tota l amount of sa lt entering the River each year, the balance of about 36 percent or 470,000 tonnes coming from South Australia.

Recent ly the first moves were made to rect ify sa linity and drainage problems th ro ugh a na ti o nal five year plan of action cos ting $75 million. Addit iona l work planned will cost a furth er $48 mill ion over twenty years. Most projects wi ll be funded 50/ 50 by the Natio nal Water Resources Program and the States concerned. Almost one th ird of the mo ney wi ll be spent in South Australia, a major proportion being in the Ri ver land Region.

One of the main projects is the $ 14 million Noora Drainage Disposa l Scheme. A large evaporation basin is to be created at Noora, twenty ki lometres east of Loxton , with pipelines to it from the Renmark and BerriCo bd ogla d ra inage systems. The new basin will prevent overl oadi ng of t he exis ti ng Berri, Disher's Creek and Bulyong Island Evaporation Basins.

T he scheme invo lves th ree pumpin g station s at the existing evaporation basin s, rising mains crossing under the River near Dis her' s Creek and Bulyon g Is land and gravity pipelines ranging from 600 to 750 mm in d iameter.

Some time ago construction was completed on the fir st stage of the important Rufus River Groundwater Interception Scheme .

T h is i n volved the construction of emba nk me nts to iso late the saline Brilka Creek system from t he River M urray .

T he seco nd stage o f t he Ru fu s River Sc heme in vo lves co nstruction of two lines of tu bewells, two pumping st at ions, two bank s to be b uilt across the meander loop portion of Rufus River and an evaporation basin near Lake Victoria.

Work is well under way on construction of bank s across each leg of the meander loop to form a storage dam . Saline groundwater from the tubewells wi ll be pumped to this da m and again pumped to a shallow eva porat ion basin well clear of Lake Vi cto r ia .

At certain po ints on the bank s of the Rufu s River near t he Lake, sa li ne seepage entering th e rive r is read il y visi ble. Nearby the first test ho les have been dri lled u p to 16 metres deep to test the underground aquifer for sc reening purposes and to calculate th e number and location of tubewell s needed.

In addit ion to these schemes other research and monitoring projects are being co nducted under the River Murray Irri gation and Salinity Investi gation Program.

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NEWS

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VIEWS

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COMMENT

Norm Beckwith , Corrosion Officer, Design Branch, E. & W .S., was awarded 'T he Corrosion Medal' at the 1980 Silver Jubilee Conference of the Australasian Corrosion Association recently held at the Festival Centre, Adelaide. The medal is the highest honour awarded by the Association and is prese nted annually for an outstanding contribution to the field of co rrosion .

opportunity for a seminar. Present thought s envisage inspection of the North West Coas t Water Schemes and some indu strial and municipa l water treatment in stall a tio ns wit h, of course a little pleasing socia l act ivity .

Make a note of it!

TASMANIA

As with all Branches , the years' early stages have been directed to fini shing detai ls of the program for the balance of 198 1.

Firstly, however and to rolll)d off the record for Christmas past (shades of Scrooge!), the picture with this issue indi ca tes that Queensland finished off the year in good heart and seasonable fashion. Hosted by C. l. G ., t he occasion was a 'gas' in more ways tha n o ne.

On February 18t h a joint talk 'A dva nces in Water T reatment ' was given by Nev ill e Jones of Kinh ill Con. Eng . P / L and Greg Young of Munro Johnson & Ass. P / L, based on and illustrated by case stud ies of plant u pgrad ing and augmentation.

Great emphasis was placed on the necessity for inte rchange and co mmunication between Engineers, Chemists and other di sciplines and th e common lack of such.

For the rest of the year, planned activities include:

Tasmania has sta rt ed the year with a number of interesting papers lin ed up - a great help in a Branch which, on occasions, feels itself a little out of the main stream rightly or wrongly.

For the first meeting of 198 I , on February 25th, a talk was given by John Paul of the Department of Transport and Works, Darwin , who was vacationin g in Tasmania and whose offer to provide an address was most welcome.

Mr. Paul was formerly Deput y H ydrographic Engineer with th e H .E .C. and hi s current activities provided th e subject of hi s talk on 'Recent Work on Surface and Subsurface Water in Connection with the Uranium Industry in the Territory'.

Uranium, in all its aspects is topical today in any part of Australia - in ma ny cases and places - more than just topical - it 's an issue, and the talk was of great interest to members and gues ts.

Progra mme for the balance of the year is : May 2 1st - Mr. John Freeman, Co nsulting Engineer will talk on the 'Env ironshield' process of oxygen inges tion in sewers and sewage treatment works. His talk will cover the process in general and will be expa nded in details relating to recent projects close to Hobart.

Jul y (latter half) - 'The Microbio logical Aspects of Water and Wastewater' will be the subj ect of a talk by Dr. W. Tucker.

September - On a date to be fixed, the Annual General Meeting will be combined with a visit to the Antarctic Division's new headq uarters.

October 31st-November 2nd - The long weekend for Northern Tasmania provides an

QUEENSLAND

April 6-!0th - AWWA Confern ce, Perth April 15th - Open April 29th - Extensio n Meeting, Bundaberg June 24t h - Chlorin atio n (Peter No rman) July 15th - West Bank Trea tme nt Plant (G. Cossins) August 19th - Ann. Gen. Meet ing. Sludge Drying Beds (B. Rigden) September 23rd - Symposium / Work shop, Water and its Reuse. ovember 11th - Christmas Function The Bra nch wilf welcome any visiting speaker who may be touring the sunny North after the Perth Conference and who wou ld favour the Branch with a ta lk o n Ap ri l 15t h.

Any potential spea ker is asked to contact the Secretary John Rya n urge nt ly at G.P.O. Box 668K, Brisbane, 400 1 or phone (07) 22 1-7955.

PERSONAL

Mr. Len Burnett, Acting Director, Services of the Engineering & Water Supply Department has retired after 43 years with th e Department. Len started at the age of 16 as a temporary junior clerk but soo n started studyin g for an engineering degree and before long became a draft sman . After the war's interruption he completed hi s degree and climbed upwards to become a Regional Engineer, Assistant Engineer for Water Supply, Acting Engineer for Water Supply, to his position, Acting Director, Services. Hi s many friends and colleagues wi sh him a long and happ y retirement.

WATER

Environmental matters discussed in the night environment. Queensland 's Xmas gathering addressed by Ralph Gray of media fame.

11

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PEOPLE

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NEW CHIEF ENGINEER M.W.S.S. & D. BOARD - PERTH

OPERA TOR SUE A FIRST FOR VICTORIA

Mr. Ken J . Kelsall, B.E. Hons., F. l. E .Aust., fo rmerly Deputy Director General of Engineering, Public Works Department, W .A., ha s been appointed Chi ef Engineer of th e Pert h Boa rd in succession to Mr. H . Hunt who retired in Octob er last.

Mr. Kelsall is a West Austral ian and a firm believer in his State.

Following hi s earl y days at Acq uinas Co llege fro m which he enjoyed panoramic views of the Canning Ri ver a sister to the Swa n River . He joined the Public Works Departmen t and advanced into a ca reer main ly associated with water.

Comme ncing with the P.W.D. as a cadet, he was appointed to the staff in 1942 and has the longes t service as an Engi neer in the Depart ment.

During hi s career with the Public Works Department he was invol ved in the Kimberley Resea rch Station, the subseq uent Ord Ri ver Dam, Kununurra Aerodrome, the Yule Ri ver Water Scheme for Port Hed land and the Millstream Water Su ppl y for the iro n ore townsites .

Bill , Jack, Tom, Dick and Harry are common enough names in th e Plant Operator field and even 'Cedric' probably would not raise an eyebrow (or only a fraction) but ... Suellen!? . .. Sue for short ... well !

Yes it's tru e. The Mornington Sewerage Authority has Victoria's first lady Plant Operator and until co ntradicted, we will say Australi a's first. And a very competent and highl y qu alified Operato r too.

The Morningto n Wastewater Control Centre is an ultra-modern, sophisticated treatment plant , the heart of a $6.5 mi ll ion complex serving a bays ide region. The Victorian Bra nch notes comment on the plant in thi s issue.

Controlling and directing the plant under Serflor Superintendant John Pyland is Suellen Lefebvre. Sue, at 24, became the first woman in Victoria to receive the Level I Plant Operators Ce rtificate iss ued by the Ministry for Water Resources and Water Supply after the rece nt co urse at the Werribee Operator Training Centre.

Suellen Lefebvre, Plant Ope rator, Morn ington, rece ives Certi ficate from A uthority Chairman , Tom Hast.

(Photo courresy, "Town Crier")

In 1954 he was transferred to the Perth Office to become involved in a wide range of water supply sc hemes for co untry towns and also in the development of roaded and bitumen catc hment areas. He advanced to Principal Assista nt Major Hydraulics Undertakings in 1962 then Engineer Co nstruction in 1968 and to Executive Engineer in 1970. In 1972 he was appointed Chief Engi neer and in 1976 the title for th e position was amended to Deputy Director of Engineering, he retained that pos ition until hi s recent a ppointment to the M.W .S.S. & D. Board.

His fi rst involveme nt with the M.W.S .S. & D . Board was in 1978 when in co mpany with Mr. R. J . Fimmel he visited Europe and the United States to investi gate the design and management of th e septic lank systems in other areas.

Away from the work scene Mr. Kelsall assisted the University of W .A . with lectures in Civil Engineering constru ction fo r so me 6 years; he was elected Vice President of the I. E. Australia in 1975 and 76 and was Chairman of the I.E. Aust. W .A. Di vision in 1976.

His youth ful appeara nce is in part due to his interest in a va ri ety of sports. In hi s early days he was the 100 yards sprint and long jump State Junior Champion and later on captai n of the University Amateur Football Club. In both field s he was awarded a half blue in recognition of his sportin g capabi lities.

The M. W .S.S. & D. Board is most fortunate in gaining Mr. Kelsall to lead it through its engineerin g future . The A.W.W.A. wishes him well in hi s new position and looks forward to him becoming in volved in the W .A. Branch act ivities.

12

Just by th e way, Sue is also a Gradu~e in Marine Biology from Townsville Univers ity after stud ies there and at La Trobe. Unab le to find a post suitable to her in the marine fi eld, she assumed the res ponsibilities at Mornington two years ago and with this experience has qu alified in no uncert ain terms for the Operators Certificate.

During th e Opera tor Training Co urse, Sue made a marked impression with her kn owledge, her compete nce and her rese rved yet definite personality.

In surrou ndings and work situati ons whic h cou ld have posed problems - particul ar ly fo r the fir st lady in th e field - she emerged with fl yin g colours. In fact, rumour has it she was a close co ntend er for the Operator of th e Year Award . Now that wo uld reall y have been one for the books!

In February the Branch visited the Mornington Plant as reported in the ' News' and saw Sue full y in action on her ow n Plant - both very impressive .

Women are enteri ng and achievin g in one-time 'men only field s' , to an ever increasing extent - and a good thing too. Mornington and Suellen are to be congrat ulated . These changes are welcome an d, as one veteran Operator at the recent Course was heard to say ' If thi s is th e shape of things to come, I was born too early! ' QUEE NSLAND UN IVERSITY SHORT CO URSES JU LY 27-31

Prin c ipa l lecturers; Prof. W. Eckenfelder, U.S.A. , Merv.

Goronzy , N.S.W. , David Barnes , N.S.W. Details from Dr. P. Greenfield, Univers ity of Q'ld . 4067 . See Calendar p.28.

WATER

Biennial Conferences . An author seeking support will be required to submit the paper to the Australian National Committee for assessment in addition to gaining acceptance by the Conference Program Committee.

NEWS

BOARD MATIERS It's good to be able to announce that the ' home' and the administrative succession for l.A .W .P.R. has been finalised. The Association has now moved into new offices at 29/ 30 High Holborn , London WCl. and the retiring Secretary/Treasurer has been succeeded by Mr . Antony Millburn, who assumed office on January 1st.

Mr. Millburn brings to l.A.W .P.R. a wealth of experience in the Water Industry with a broad basis in technical education and training , much contact with the international w¡ater sce ne and associ a tion activit y with th e I.W .S.A .

The Governing Board is concerned with the falling off of members at international conferences and is seeking causes and solutions. As a trial , the Capetown Conference will have a format somewhat different from previously with one 'stream' devoted to technology transfer and 'state of the art' report s, and with ass ociated semin a rs and tours , more details are given below.

Problems with the distribution of the Journal 'Progress in Water Technology' appear to have been overcome. Action is being taken to encourage contributions from a wider range of scientists and consideration is being given to changing the journal name and format to make it more attractive as a vehicle for high quality technical papers.

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL COMMITIEE MEETING Elections Elections for office bearers were held at the Committee meeting on 27th November last with the following results: Chairman L. Henry (Q'ld) Vice Chairman J. S. Rogerson (Vic) P. W. Hughes (N.S.W.) Secretary E . J. Calder (N.S.W.) Treasurer J.E. McCann (N .S.W.), Directors T. J. Judell (N.S.W.) , C. D. Parker (Vic.) , B. Bolto (Vic.).

Governin g Boa rd L. Henry, E. W alder T. Judell Delegat es Finance The financial position of the Committee is sound, thanks to the good management of Ted Walder , a slight increase in individual membership fees was agreed, to cope with inflation and exchange rate variation.

Conditions were clarified for financial support by the Committee to an Australian author for presentation of a paper at the

WATER

Relations with A WW A The Committee agreed to continuance of support of the AWW A Journal 'Water' by meeting half the cost of the part time Editor and also to consider assistance in bringing overseas speakers to Australia and to other activities aimed at technology transfer. The question of a joint Secretariat with the AWW A has been discussed and is being further examined.

It is proposed that the next Executive meeting be held in Perth during the A WW A 9th Federal Convention, April 6th - 10th.

Future Activities The Executive is considering a number of future activities including a Regional or Specialised Conference in 1983. This could be held in conjunction with A WW A but is more likely as a joint activity with the Japanese National Committee as a South East Asia Conference - possibly in Manila.

For the Capetown Conference in 1982, active steps will be taken to ensure a high standard of reporting to the Conference on the 'state of the art' in Australia.

OVERSEAS CONFERENCES Toronto Whilst the attendance at the Toronto Conference last year was poor, as previously reported , Leon Henry advises that a conference held the preceding week by the Ontario Ministry for the Environment on industrial wastes, attracted a capacity audience. He comments that the content was more topical and more practically oriented than the following l.A.W.P.R . sessions and this presumably provided the greater attraction.

The timing was directed to encouraging attendance at both, but this did not occur.

Clncinattl Following the Toronto Conference, the l.A.W.P.R. Specialised Conference on New Developments in River Basin Management, held at Cincinatti also suffered very poor attendance, as again reported by Leon Henry.

Authors of considerable standing from eight different countries presented some twenty excellent papers but the attendance averaged less than fifty with few participants from the U .S.A . and Canada.

Those attending benefitted from the more personalised discussions , the smaller func tions and groups visiting the E.P.A . Laboratories but the low attendance was most disappointing to the organisers and the authors.

CAPETOWN CONFERENCE -

1982

Capetown , from March 29 to April 2nd will see the I Ith Conference of l.A.W .P.R. The call for papers is out a nd submissions are due up to 1st June, 1981. Possible contributors should contact one of the Australian members of the Governing Board.

The Conference will have two main thrusts: the presentation and discussion of the latest

research results over the whole field of water pollution and its control , and a focus on technology transfer - the "tnterface between research and its application to the solution of practical problems.

The latter aspect is innovative and will be approached by 'State of the Art' presentations and discussions on important subjects, with special reference to problem definition and research needs. Subjects under consideration include: Water recycling, water pollution control and research, technology transfer case studies and proven techniques , oil pollution in marine and freshwater environments , the use of mathematical models .

The facilities for this Conference were seen by the present Committee Chairman when visiting Capetown last year , he reports most favourably on the locale, th'e, meeting places, the organisation and the hospitality. Capetown is an attractive city a nd South Africa has a great deal to offer the visitor including comfort and safety- in contradiction to some press reports. Leon adds the not irrelevant comment, that hotel costs are about half those of Australian equivalents!

For the State of the Art presentations, nominees are being asked to collate information on the Australian scene and they will shortly be pursuing their enquiries from engineers, chemists , scientists and others in the field. Names of the Australian Reporters will be published in a future issue of 'Water'.

The Conference will also host a PostConference Seminar on Water Virology on Monday and Tuesday, April 5th and 6th, in Pretoria.

UNIVERSITY SHORT-COURSES MURDOCH UNIVERSITY -W.AUST. A Groundwater Hydro logy course will be cond~ted , July 6-10th, 1981. Principal lecturer will be Dr. Herman Bouwer, Director of the U.S. Water Conservation in Phoenix , Arizona, U.S.A. Details from Dr. G. E. Ho, School of Environmental and Life Sciences , Murdoch University, W.A.

COLORADO STATE Flood Prediction, Estimations and Forecasting June 29-July 3, 1981 Purpose of course is to present current knowledge of mathematical and physical modelling in the prediction, estimating and forecast1ng of flood events .

Details : Prof. H. W . Shen, Hydrology and Water Resources Program , Engineering Research Centre , Colorado State University, Fort Col lins, CO 80523, U.S.A.

13

THE PHILOSOPHY OF AUSTRALIAN WATER LEGISLATION PART III Sandford D. Clark 3. WATER QUALITY The summ ary of common law principles concerning both surface and groundwa ter given above, indicates that private rights of action ava il ab le to guard against poll ution of both sources. Nevertheless, the difficu lty of detecting pollution , and the complex ity of proving it meant that such remedies were largely inefficacious and, with the coming of legislat ion , they were rapidly supplemented by penal provisions.

The initial thru st of legislation concerning water quality was to protect supplies of domestic a nd stock wat~r. Provisions were typically penal in nature, atlaching financial penalues to proscribed acts . This " don 't-throw-dead-dogs-in-the-dam " approach was of limited efficacy depending, as it did, upon a policeman hiding in the bushes.

Furthermore, such incidental provisions were widely scattered through various enactments relating to public health, local government, -criminal offences, mining , metropolitan and urban supply, and water resources. In each case, the sections tended to be catch-all provisions which were secondary to the main administrative functions cast on govern ment agenc ies by the legislation in q uestion . The result was that various agencies apparently shared nominal responsibility for policing pollution, but rarely perceived this task as being of primary importance to their particular duties. In comparatively recent times , a succession of Clean Waters Acts and Environment Protection Acts have fundamentally recast the direction of such legislation. 15 Given the t hrust of previous enactments for both surface and groundwater , and t he reliance in that legislation on a system of administrative apportionment of rights, it is perhaps not surprising that the system to emergy was essentially one of licensing waste-disposal. Legislation attaching random penal sanctions to proscribed acts was abandoned as a prim ary means of maintaining the quality of water.

The emergence of yet another system of administrative licensing was thus not remarkable, given our background of government involvement in resource management. What was far more remarkabl e was the clear recog niti on by all th ese Acts, without excep tion, that to confer, by legislative fiat, the power or duty on a government agency to undertake a particul ar function did not necessarily mean the task would be carried out. Such documents as the Senate Select Committee Report on Water Pollution in Australia 16 had clearly shown the gap between power and performance at all levels of government, and similar reports in most States identified the urgent need for co-ordination and co-operation between government agencies responsible for pollution control. It is , perhaps, the clear recognition by the legislature that the execut ive branch is. less t han tractable, and faces substantial internal prob lems of co-ordination, that leads to the most interesting changes in legislative phil osophy in the new Acts concerning waste discharge and environmental quality. For it appears that the executive branch may no longer need to be merely told what to do , but also, how to do it.

In section 1.4.2 I promised to return to the problem of the re lationship between the legislative and t he executive branches. In the Victori an Environm ental Protection Act 1970, "waste" is defined as including "a ny matter prescribed to be waste"; and the Act further obliges citizens to seek licenses to disc harge waste. The task of defining 1vhat constitutes waste is thus left, effectively, to Orders made under the Act - a task which is primarily undertaken by the executive, and not by the legislature.

However conven ient such a system appears to be from the point of view of admini strative llexibility, it must be remembered that it does pose a n important question of whose task it is to make laws. In consideri ng this section recently, the Supreme Court of Victoria

The Author is Harrison Moore Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne. This paper was presented by Professor Clark at the A WWA Summer School in Adelaide in February 1980.

Part Ill concludes the paper. Parts II and I were published in the December and September, 1980 issues of this Journal.

14

pointed out that such a provmon makes it "difficult to determine precisely what rights or privileges and what duties or obligations were conferred or imposed by the Act". Resort to such a legislative technique makes it possible that novel principles of conduct might be imposed upon the citizen by executive action , rather than by legisla tion , and with very little opportunity for redress being open to the citizen. Furthermore, merely by promulgating regulations or orders, even Acts of Parliament may, in effect, be amended without any such amendment being properly discussed in the egislative forum.

Furthermore, sometimes so wide a discretion is conferred upon subordinate bodies, that it is practically impossible to know what limit on the power the statute was intended to impose. In assessing the Victorian Act, th erefore, Gill ard J. concluded that "although it may be readily conceded that the purposes and objects of this Act are praiseworthy, the means adopted to achieve them seem to be quite authoritarian, if not draconian in character." t7 One may, of course, argue that such provisions are unobjectionable if government agencies are to be trusted, and, in raising this problem, I do not wish to be categorised as a cavilling academic with no apprehension of the real problems of planning, co-ordination and co-operation between government agencies. The truth is that these very problems were ac utely apparent to the draftsman, and, presumably, the legislators concerned with the new wave of environmental legislation . And the diversity of approach between the States in tackling the problem of co-ordination demonstrates that the legislatures have no confidence in their ability to frame laws in a way which government departments will obey. It is , I think, the most seri o us unresolved policy problem confronting our resource legislation, and while I cannot hope to essay a n answer in this paper, it may provoke your thought if I try to categorise the existing legislation in the following manner.

3.1 The "Crash or Crash Through" approach In 1970 , New South Wales passed a package of environmental legislation; the State Pollution Control Commission Act, the Clean Waters Act, and the Waste Disposal Act. If the Victorian Supreme court viewed the Victorian Environmeift Prot ection Act 1970 as "au th ori 1arian" and "draconian", one shudd e rs at th e adjectives it mi ght have reserved for th is pac kage. (a) The Clean Waters Act, 1970

This Act prov ided for the classification of all waters, and the d uty to obtain an annual licence to discharge potential pollutants into classified waters. Initially, the Act was administered by the Health Com mission , advised by an Advisory Comm ittee, representing most State and loca l government agencies involved in water management, and commercial , conservation and local government interests. The Act required the Comm ission to seek t he recommendations of this Adv isory Com mittee - which was obviously intended to act as a co-ordinating mechanism between government departments - before attaching conditions to discharge licences.

The Act obviously contemplated t he likelihood of disputes between the Health Commission and other agencies in the exercise of its licensing power, and accordingly proposed means for resolving such conflicts . Wherever dispute exists, eit her t he Commission, or the agency concerned, may refer the matter to the Premier for settlement, whose decision will be final. The pressures not to resort to this extremity are doubtless considerable, but although the provision 's mere existence presumab ly lead s to disputes being compromised, there is no guarantee that the compromise, which might be dictated by factors other than the merits of the dispute, will be either rational or a suitable precedent for fut ure re lations.

Section 4 attempts to appoint another means of resolving conflict between agencies. The provisions of, and powers conferred by, other WAT ER

...

laws are expressly preserved , but where the "provisions of' the Clean Waters Act or Regulations "are inconsistent with any of the provisions of' any other Act or Regulations {with limited exceptions), the former "shall prevail".

At the outset, one must express sympathy for parliamentary counsel called upon to draft such umbrella legislation. No-one can forsee the comp lex practical ramifications of establishing bodies which are designed to supervene and to supersede - particularly where their induction is due to pre-existing administrative confusion and lack of co-ordination. It would be impractical to require a legislative draftsman to run all conceivable legislative conflicts to earth and to deal with them separately. Accordingly, a draftsman is required to take a deep breadth, include a provision such as section 4, and hope for the best.

The difficu lty with such provisions is, of course, one of interpretation; of what constitutes inconsistency, and whether the supremacy provided for is limited to true cases of literal inconsistency between legislation, or extends to th e resolution of inconsistency actions undertaken pursuant to legislation. While it seems likely that a proper interpretation would limit the effect of this section to cases of literal inconsistency, the political imp act of such a section is often far greater than its legal consequences. As inter-agency litigation over such a provision is extremely unlikely, it is impossible to wield such a section in support of admin¡istrative and executive supremacy- and it appears that this is sometimes done. . Although such provisions thus have an impact on the way actual or potential conflicts between agencies are resolved, such resolution is possibly effected not pursuant to such sections, but in view of the imagined possible effect of such sections, if they were applied. It also reinforces the proposition that effective administrative co-ordination cannot be achieved by law alone, and depends much more upon the willingness by all participants to co-operate in devising a rational and workable division of responsibilities. (b) State Pollution Control Commission Act, 1970

A companion Act created the State Pollution Control Commission, comprising representatives of a number of relevant government departments and interest groups, as "generally" advised by a Technical Advisory Committee which consists of a wider group of representatives from government agencies.

The primary purpose of the Commission is to ensure "that all practical measures are taken in accordance with this or any other Act" to prevent and control pollution and to co-ord in ate the activities of public authorities to that end. The Commission has chosen to interpret its task as requiring "the centralisation of administration of all specialised pollution control legis lation." lt asserted in its Annual Report for 1972 that this will lead to increased effectiveness of implementation of legislation; expedition of the process of review and decision; the realisation of monetary economy; more flexible and productive use of manpower and physical resources.

It is apparent that the main purpose of the Act is to rationalise endeavour, and to achieve co-ordination among government agencies, and numerous powers exist to this end . The Commission may, of its own initiative, consult and arrange with any public authority to undertake anything within its statutory powers to promote pollution control. This amenable provision is followed by a power to direct a public authority to do, or cease doing, anything within its powers which, in the opinion of the Commission may contribute to pollution control.

Where such a direction is given, it must have the assent of the Technical Advisory Committee thus, presumably, allowing a voice to be heard which is at least indirectly representative of the subject agency. _The means appoi nted to resolve any dispute arising from such a direction is again a reference to the Premier, and where a local government authority fa ils to act in compliance with the Premier's decision, the Commission has power to intervene and execute works at the cost of that loca l authority.

A further overriding power lies in the power of the Commission to recommend the making, amendment or repeat of regulations concerning pollution control to the Minister responsible for that Act; and such recomm endations may be made to the Minister without the concurrence or prior knowledge of the government agency responsible for administering the Act in question, or the approval of any body which is norm ally required by the Act to recommend or to concur in proposed regul ations.

WATER

In addition to these extremely tough powers , it must be noted that the administration of the Clean Waters Act was taken away from the Health Commission in 1974 and given to the State Pollution Control Commission . It is perhaps significant that, at this tinÂź, the obligation to consult the Advisory Committee established under the Clean Waters Act was abolished .

There are thus ample powers, th e purpose of which, presum a bly, is to assist in the implementation of the substantive provisions of such legislation as the Water Act, 1912 and the Clean Waters Act, 1970.

Presumably, too , they are intended to eliminate potential conflicts between bodies like the Water Resources Commission and the State Pollution Control Commission. As previously suggested, however , effective administrative co-ordination is not merely a matter of formal supervening legal power. Much depends upon style, and it may well be that co-ordination and co-operation is best achieved when the existence of Damoclean power is not used as a negotiating tool. In terms of formal power, the scheme provided by these Acts is more than adequate to control water quality. Whether the requisite blend of the extra-legal qualities of wisdom and restraint affects the relationships between the agencies appointed to administer each Act, will finally determ ine whether effective co-ordination and co-operation exist.

3.2 The velvet glove approach The Victorian Environment Protection Act 1970 creates a similar structure . A three-man Authority is appointed , which is advised by an Environment Protection Council similar in constitution to the advisory bodies existing in New South Wales. In formal outline, the executive licensing and enforcement functions which the Act enumerates are the responsibility of the Authority. Although centralised administration, as advocated by the New South Wales State Pollution Control Commiss ion , would thu s be poss ible, the Authorit y has power to delegate its functions concerning the issuing of licences, the investigation of offences, enforcement and research , to any other public authority exercising statutory powers in relation to the environment.

Thus, for example, th e form al power to license and control di sc harges into surface -waters has been delegated to the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission , the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, the Dandenong Valley Authority, and the Latrobe Valley Water and Sewerage Board.

In exercising delegated functions, agencies are guided not merely by their instrument of delegation, but by any Orders of the Governor-in-Council declaring State environment protection policy with respect to any matter or area.

While the Authority does retain overriding power's, which may be used at any time, controls are in fact imposed and exercised by delegate agencies. However , the possibility and actuality of review does exist, both directly by the Authority and through the mechanism of the Appeal Board . f

3.3 The "let's be reasonable, chaps" approach The Environmental Protection Act, 1971-75 of Western Australia provides an interesting comparison with the legislation in other States and appears to owe different elements to different precedents. While electing to pursue a "soft" approach to the problem of administrative co-ordination, it relies on a power of delegation to other agencies such as exists in Victoria, but does not embody the same executive licensing functions included in the legislation of other States. Instead, the Act concentrates on procedures whereby environmental policies may be proposed, debated, challenged and promulgated , as bases for future action .

While the main thrust is thus to the airing and establishing of policies, there is a general power, wherever waste is discharged, to direct the owner , or any other person or public authority, to take specified action in order to prevent pollution and , if necessary, to intervene and abate the nuisance. There is further power to direct any public authority to take action to mitigate pollution and to recover the costs thereof from the occupier.

In add it ion , the Authority may direct any person who is discharging waste and causing pollution to cease or modify the discharge. The "soft" approach to the problem of co-ordination which permeates the Act is amply demonstrated by the fact that such directions may only be given where no other statutory body has control over the discharge, and after consu ltations with the polluter have failed to produce the required action . If the discharge is licensed, or under the control of some other

15

public authority, the Authority may after consultation with the public authority concerned recommend that it take certain action, or make recommendations to the responsible Minister. Such a recommendation confers sufficient power to implement it, but the public authority cannot be compelled to act. ¡ The nominated function of the Authority to "co-ordinate all activities, whether governmental or otherwise" is supported by several carefully phrased powers, which are marked by the same sensitivity to the practical problems of co-ordination. Thus, one of the functions of the Conservat ion and Env ironm ent Council, comprised largely of representat ives from the very age ncies requiring co-ord ination, is to advise the Authority on means of achieving that co-ordination. Again, the power of delegation is doubtless intended to ensure a rational delineation of functions between agencies and that the different function of a particular agency are properly integrated. In the supervisory powers contained in sections 59 and 60, care is taken to emphasise consultation before the Authority acts, when it recommends action rather than directing other agencies or Ministers in their functions. Similar sensitivity is particularly apparent in sections which deal with relationships between the Authority and Ministers responsible for reserving or altering the reservation attached to Crown land , for mining, and for town planning. The object in each case is to ensure that the Authority has an opportunity to consider, comment upon and make recommendations concerning, particular classes of application made under the legislation for which that Minister is 'responsible. In each case, the power given to the Authority is a power to request, rather than to airect action, although the Minister is obliged to comply with the request. Again the Authority is exhorted to consult wit h th e Minister before making its recommendation s, but it has the ultimate power to publish its recommendations in whatever manner it sees fit, and th e Mini ster is obli ged to consider those recommendations before mak ing his decisio n.

3.3 The "England expects ... " approach The Environment Protection Act 1973 of Tasmania is administered by a Director, as advised by a Environmental Protection Advisory

INDEX -

Council , consisting of representatives of government departments and special interest groups. It is the duty of the Director "to ensure the control or prevention" of pollution and to "co-orcflnate all activities, whether governmental or otherwise" as are necessary to protect the env ironment.

The provisions concerning administrative co-ordination are framed in a way which makes an interesting contrast to the bald assertions of overriding power which appear in the New South Wales legislation.

Thus , the Director is invited to consult with his Advisory Council, or "any permanent head of a department of State concerned" before exercising his powers generally, or in respect of any particular exercise of power.

Section 12(1) contains the following interesting and educative statement: "It is the duty of the Crown to refrain, as far as is practicable and reasonable, from causing or permitting pollution of the environment and to put the laws into execution to prevent or reduce such pollution."

Section 12(2) goes on to point out that it is the corresponding duty of all Crown servants "to help the Crown in its duty". Later sub-sections relate to the provisions of information by, and giving of advise to, other departments and impose the duty of avoiding pollution on all public and local authorities and municipalities.

Having made educative exhortations to co-operat ion, the Act contains fall-back provisions which permit the Governor-in-Council to direct a public authority to, and the Minister to recommend that a municipality exercise its powers in a particular way. Nothing turns on the difference between a direction and a recommendation, for in both cases the body must comply. In both cases, however , the sop is offered that a direction will only be given, or recommendation made, if "satisfactory financial arrangements have or can be made" to implement the action required.

The tone of the provisions aimed at encouraging co-operation and co-ord ination stand in marked contrast to equivalent provisions elsewhere. The implication of a general duty, encumbent on both the Crown and public servants , may be dismissed as mere flag-waving, but it might possibly have a subtle but important effect on the willingness of age ncies to co-operate.

Cont in ued on page 20

WATER -

1980

VOL. 7 - Nos. 1-4 No.1- MARCH Water the Indestru ctib le Resource 8th Convention Address .. .................. Harry Butler Investi ga tion of Estuarine Salinity R. 0. Rankin and and Dissolved Oxygen in the Brisbane River ... S. N. Milford Developing a Texting Capaci ty for Australia ..................... . ........ John Cairns Jr .

Time Distribution of Slug Contamination in Lagoon Effl uent s an Flow Equali zation .. .. . B. W. Gou ld Control EngineeriQg Theory in Water Treatment .. .. .. .. . .... .......... .. ....... B. W. Gould A WW A-IA WPR-WPCF-IWSA-AA TS-A wee Guide to the Alphabetical Array ............. C . D. Parker Two New Treatment Processes .. . .. . . . . . .. ... D. Chirmuley

No. 2 - JUNE Water Quality of the Murray ............ D. M. Co ucouvini s Water Quality Inform ation - Influ ence ... T. D. Waite, W.A. on Resource Management . .... . . Graham and W. M. Drew 'Christmas at the Office' ..................... Allan Burnett Domestic Septic Tanks near Perth B. A. Carbon Expected Life of Effluent Disposal Systems . ... . ..... . . ... ... . . .. . . . .... and A . M. Murray Water Quality - Effects on Public Health . . . A. J. McMichael

16

No. 3 - SEPTEMBER Mercury in Aquatic Environments L. A. Nagy and - A General Review . . ....... . . B. H. Olson The Philosophy of Au stralian Water Legislation - Part I ........... Sandford D. Clark Toxicity of Wastewaters - Some Practical Implicat ions .............. .. ... W. D. William s Water Quality Management of Storage Reservoirs ............. . . . ... . .. W. D. Lyn ch No. 4 - DECEMBER The Philosophy of Au stralian Water Legislation - Part II .. . ....... . Sandford D. Clark Econom ic Effluent Treatments and Re-u se of Water in the Textile Processing Industr y . . . . . . . . . . .. M. W. Simm ons Water Resource Allocation by Land Use Control .. . .... . ........... . ........ M. R. Ti ll Water Quality Management in Arid and Semi-arid Environments ........... Barry T. Hart Activated Sludge Treatment , Subiaco Western Australia - Developing Operating Procedures ...... ... . .. .. .. .. . . . . Allen J. Gale Index of papers presented to Conve ntions and Summer Schools 1964-1980 and Water Treatment Suppleme nt to Symposium 1965 .. .. ................. .. . December iss ue

WATER

INDUSTRIAL WASTE TREATMENT

BY DIRECT ANAEROBIC DIGESTION J. G. Parker, B. J. Lyons and C. D. Parker INTRODUCTION

ORGANIC MATTER CAR BO HYDRATE PROTEIN LIPIDS

Des pite the ex ten sive use of anaerobic digestion in municipal treatment plants for the sta bilization of sludges and its considera ble potential for direct waste treatment, the anaerobic diges tion process has still not been widely applied for the latter purpose. The impediment to widespread application of the process to industrial wastewater treatment ha s been, to so me extent, the lack of a clear understanding of the microbiology and biochemistry of the process, but more importantly, the engineering aspects. In recent years there have been considerable advances in these areas both in Austra lia and overseas (Mc in erney a nd Bryant 1968; Parker el al 1979; Stander el al 1968).

HYDROLYSIS

I. . . .

MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY Although it is not intended to deal in detail with the fundamental .microbiology and biochemistry of the anaerobic digestion process, some of th e main characteristics should be mentioned here , as it is essential to have a so und understa nding of the problems involved in its application as an indu strial waste treatment process. Over the past 40 years or so anaerobic digestion has been thought to involve a two stage process comprising two major groups of bacte ria namely: • The acid forming stage producing fatty acids from polysaccharides, lipid s, proteins and involving a who le range of micro -organisms .

• The methane · forming stage involving met hanogenic bacteria that co nvert these acids to CO 2 a nd CH 4 usin g CO 2 and H 2 as intermedi ates.

However, a three-stage scheme is considered best suited to describe the present knowledge of the microbiology and biochemistry of anaerobic digestion (Bryant et al 1968; Lettinga et al 1976). The three stage scheme is shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.

A balanced digestion process requires the separate sequential steps of hydrolysis, acid formation and methane fermentation to take place simultaneously and sy nchronously. According to recent information (Lettinga et al 1976) the sole substrates that can be used by the methanogens are H 2, CO 2, CO, CH pH, HCOOH, CH 3COOH . The higher vo latile fatty ac ids are now believed to be oxidized to one of these sub strates by non -methanogenic symbionts.

l

ANO

FERMENTATION ( 1)

FATT} ACIDS

ACE TtGEN IC DEHYDROGENATION (2)

'-.

/

ACETATE

l

H

ACETOGENIC H YD ROGENATION (l.)

ACETATE DECARBOXYLATION(3)

CH4

1 +

CO2

¥"

2

+ CO

l

2

REDU C TI VE METHANE FORMATION (3)

CH4

l

+

H20

(1) Fermentative bacteria (2) The obligate H2 producing acetogenic bacteria (3) Methanogenic bacteria

Figure 1. The three stage scheme for the complete anaerobic degradation of organics mediated by the three major groups of anaerobic digestion microorganisms.

balance considerations . However it is our experience with a naerobic digestion of potato and dairy wastes that moderate fluctuations in temperature ( ± 5°C) have no detrimental ~ffect on the process above

30°C.

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON ANAEROBIC GROWTH, WASTE STABILIZATION AND GAS PRODUCTION.

Alkalinity and pH

Anaerobic digestion combines a high degree of waste stabi li zation with a low production of excess biological solid s. As the growth of the anaerobic bacteria is slow , these organisms are so mewhat sensitive to environmental change and hence knowledge of th e effect of various enviornmental factors a nd their interelationships is essential, when considering application of the process to indu st rial waste treatment.

The optim um pH range for a naerobic digestion is reported as 6.5 8.0. The major con trolling pH buffer in this pH range is the ca rbonate - bicarbonate system. Sufficient alkalinity should be present to maintain the pH above the critical value by artificial alkali dosage if necessary. However excess alkalinity would appear to adversely effect solids I liquid separation.

Temperature

Nutrients

The commonly known optimum temperature ranges for anaerobic digestion are: (50 - 65 °C) • thermophilic • mesophilic (20 - 45 °C) • psychrophilic (< 20°C) Alth ough the process may proceed faster und er thermophilic rather than mesophilic conditions, it is frequently considered to be more sensitive in the thermophilic range. The selection of the most appropriate temperature range for treatment of industrial wastes wi ll usually depend on feed temperature ex the manufacturing process and energy

Although the nutrient requirement in anaerobic treatment is low, the minimum amount of all essential nutrients must be present in an available form. Compared with aerobic treatment the nitrogen requirement is consid erably less for anaerobic treatment as evidenced by a satisfactory BOD 5 : N : P ratio of 100 : 2.8 : 1.6 for anaerobic digest ion of potato waste. However for stabi lit y of the process a slight excess of nutrients sho uld be maintained.

John Parker, Barry Lyons and Guy Parker are all Directors, Water Science Laboratories, Consulting Scientists and Eng ineers, Melbourne.

WATER

Toxic Compounds

Adequate knowledge of all potential inhibiting substances is essential when considering application of the anaerobic digestion process to industrial wastewaters. Literature data is often misleading in this regard. For example, we have observed with potato waste that a highly active and stable fermentatio n can be maintained at Na + concentra17

tions of 6,000 - 8,000 mg/ L, co ncen trations whi ch have been reported to be tox ic in the li terature.

In rega rd to toxicit y to the process of cholorin ated comp ounds, we have fo und in th e anaerobic digestion of po'tato wastes, a co ncentration o f the chl orinated hydrocarb on chlorop henyl isopropyl N-3 carbonate (C.I .P .C. ) up to 50 mg/ L is not signi fican tly inhibito ry provided the bacterial popula tion is well acclimated to this concentration.

T his chemical is comm only used in the pota to industry to inhibit sproutin g in stored potatoes an d is therefo re of co nsiderable significa nce in consid ering anaero bi c di gesti on as a suitabl e treatment process for this type of waste.

necessary. Short circuiting by chann elling in th e bed and bed fo uling is a potenti a l drawback o f this process .

The up flow anaerobic sludge bla nket process, (4) of Figure 2, has been exte nsively in ves tigated in the Neth erl a nd s for trea tm ent o f medium strenght soluble organi c wastes such a s sugar beet effluent and high organic load s (14 - 16 Kg COD / m 3) and short hydraulic detenti on tim es o f 6 - 8 hours with COD remo va l effi ciency of 87 95% are reported (Lettinga et al 1969) . In the upflow anaerobi c sludge blan ket process, th e d etrimental effect of intense agitation has been observed and emph as is is placed on minimizin g agitation intensity or even omitting it.

Gas P rod uction

Gas p roduction and compos lll on from a naerobic di gestion of industr ial wastes will be in flu enced by the above environm ental factors bu t principally by the type of substrate orga ni c ma teria l to be digested as shown in Table I. As most industrial wastes will co mprise all th e above m ateri als in variable p roporti ons, it is necessary to establish projected gas production and qu ality, preferably from pilot plant studies, for th e purposes of the gas system design . T his is particularly important in co nsidering facilities fo r utili zation of the by-product gas in the manu facturing process .

INFLUENT

(1) CONVENTIONAL DIGESTER

(2) ANAEROB IC CONTACT PROCESS

TABLE I : THEORETICAL QUANTITIES AND COMPOSITIO N OF GAS PROD UCED FROM DIFFERENT CLASSES OF ORGAN IC MATER IAL

Material

Composition

By Weighr OJo CO2

OJo C H 4

Carbohydrate

74

Fat

52 73

27 48 27

Protein

Volu m e from I kg D1y Material CH 4 Total Gas (m3) (m3)

0.75 1.44 0.98

0.37 1.04 0.49

% CH 4

By Vol.

50 72 50

NOTE: The d iffere nce between the OJo b y weight and OJo by volume resu lts fro m the difference in de nsities of CO 2 and CH 4 being twice and half the density of air respectively.

(3) ANAEROBIC FILTER

(4) UPFLOW ANAEROB IC SLUDGE BLANKET PROCESS

(5) FLUID IZED BED PROCESS

Figure 2. Schematic diagrams of variou s anaerobic treatment processes.

.

SCALE-U P OF ANAE ROBIC DIG ESTION PROCESSES PROCESS SELECTIO N AND ENG INEERING DESIGN FACTORS OF ANAEROBIC DIGESTION

The max imum orga nic loading rate achievab le in anaerobic treatment of industrial wastewaters is governed essenti ally by the Solids Retentio n T ime (S.R .T.) within the reactor. Until recently, ma intaining a sufficiently high S. R.T. had been the main problem with application of th e process to industrial was tewaters, es pecially fo r treatment of low organic strength wastewa ters (COD 3000 - 5000 mg/ L) .

Achievement of high S .R .T. is th erefore a majo r obj ecti ve in th e process selection and engineering des ign of anaero bic reactors for direct industria l wastewater treatment.

Process Selection

Schema tic diagra ms of vario us anaerobic treatment processes reported in the literat ure are show n in Figure 2 . The choice of the most appropria te process will usually depend on the organic and so lids concentrations of the wastewater to be treated.

For treatment of hi gh organic strength indu st rial wastewa ters (COD > 30000 mg/ L) such as lye peel waste from po ta to process in g, cheese and casein whey, ag ri cultural manures and distillery wastes, the conventiona l digestion a nd anaerobi c contact pro cesses can be applied (Mcinern ey and Brya nt 1979; Park er et al 1979; Schroeder 1975; Shea et al 1974) . For medium and low st rength soluble organic was tes such as suga r process ing, vegetable wastes, and even settled degritted domes ti c sewage, the processes (3 ), (4) and (5) of Figure 2 a re more suitabl e.

For tr eatment of m edium and low strength so luble was tes by the anaerobi c fil ter process , Figure 2 (3), the need for extern a l sludge separatio n does not exist because the sludge is retained sufficiently on the media to produ ce a high S. R.T. and mixing is of course not

18

Impo rta nt factors in the scaling-up of anaerobic digesti on p rocesses fo r direct industria l wastewater tr eatment are: • fee d inlet system , • de pth / area ratio • mi xing type a nd intensity • gas / liquid/solids separation For th e treatment of soluble low strength organic was tes by the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket process, multiple feed inlet points are essenti al to give uniform feed di stribution. For th e treatm ent o f high organi c a nd high solids strength wastes i.e. potato lye peel, distillery slops, ag ricultural ma nures etc., wh ere mild ag itation is necessary, multiple inlet points are not essential.

Fo r m edium and low strength wastes, the depth/ a rea ratio is primarily di ctated by th e requirements set for th e surface loa d if gas/ liquid /s olids separati on is conducted within th e reactor. With medium and high strength was tes the amount of gas released per unit area may be the prohibitive fac tor. In any event , hea t loss considerations and method o f mixing (when required) will also influence th e depth / area ratio dec ision.

Mixin g may be accomplished by intermittent or continuous mechani ca l agitation , gas recirculation and / or sludge recircul ation.

Mixing intensity has often been achieved by hi gh shear devi ces in the form o f draft tube type mechanical agitators but from investi gations in a 4 m 3 pilot pla nt a nd more recently in full scale reactors (600 m 3) treating pot ato waste, we have observed that hi gh mixing intensity (tip speed) is not necessa ry and is in fact detrim ental to gas - solids separatio n. However mild agitation is necessary to promote intimate contac t of hi gh solids (5-7 g/ L T .S .) viscous feed with the reactor contents. Und er these co nditions, exceptionally high organic loa dings , up . to 9- 10 kg COD/ m 3 d , ca n be ac hi eved with an overa ll trea tment efficiency of 90-95% after an initial acclimation period of 8-16 weeks. · WATER

The co mmon sca le- up criteria o f mecha nica l mixing sys tem s are: • co nstant Reyno ld s Number • co nsta nt tip speed • co nsta nt power per unit vo lum e • co nsta nt volum etric flow per unit velocit y head .

In sca ling up fro m a 4 m 3 pilot pla nt to 600 m 3 full scale reactors we have use d constant tip speed as th e principal criteri a to ma intain favourable condition s for the forma tion a nd maintenance of sludge with sa ti s factory settleability. Hig h tip speeds have proved detrimental.

Gas/ liquid/ soli ds separation ma y be perform ed externa ll y to the diges ter (anaerobic contact process) or interna ll y within th e digester (upflow anaerobic slud ge blanket process). In eith er case surface loads should be maintained below 0.5 -0.6 m / hr. and with due cons ideration of solid s loading. As mentioned, excessive a lk ali nity wo uld seem to adversely influence gas/liq uid/ so lid s sepa rati o n as does excessive o il and grease, fibrou s and insert collo idal matter. It is therefore essential that th ese aspects be sa tisfactorily co ntrolled if high S. R. T. and high treatm ent efficiency are to be maintained.

APPLICATIO AND CONTROL OF THE ANAEROBIC DIGESTION PROC ESS Application

. Trea tm ent of indu stria l wastewaters by direct a naerobi c digestion is essenti all y a pretreatm ent process a nd wi ll not produce an effluent suitable for discharge to surface waters. H owever, it is em inently suita ble as a pretreatment process for high, med ium and low o rgani c strength ind ustrial was tewaters prior to sewer d isc harge or subseq uent aerobic treatment .

Th e advantages over other treatment processes are: • low energy req uirement • produ ction of me thane as by-product • low production of excess (stabi li zed) slud ge • low nutrient requirements • high organic loading rates • acclim a ted slud ge ca n be stored unfed for long periods wi th out deterioration - a pertinent point for seas onal industri es • sma ll land requirement • no nuisance odour

Two 600 m 3 digesters treating potato waste -

Ballarat, Victoria.

High Strength Wastes Di stillation Residues (Alcohol Industry) Cheese & Casein Whey (Dairy Indu stry) Sta rch and Gluten (Starch Products Industry)

The disadvantages of the process a re: • the in itial start -up , using d iges ted sewage sludge as seed , may take 8-16 weeks • a naerobic digest ion is ba ica lly a pretreatment process • there is little full scale operat in g experi ence wit h such systems • the process is se nsiti ve to factors which adversely a ffect sludge sett lea bi lity nam ely: - finely dispersed colloidal material - excessive o il and grease - excess ive fibrou s ma teria l; • the process is se nsitive to excessive co ncentrat io ns o f chlorinated hydrocar bon s; There are now severa l full sca le pla nts operating throug hou t the world a nd details of so me typica l in stallation s a re shown in Table 2.

The poten tial app lica ti o ns o f a naerob ic di ges tio n to o th er wastes are as se t o ut in th e fo ll ow ing listing a nd gro uped accord ing to o rder of waste strength.

COD (mg/ L) 80,000-115,000 40,000- 50,000 15,000- 30,000

Medium Strength Was/es f

Fr uit and Vegetable Can ning Meat & Poultry Processing Brewery & Soft Drink Fish Processing

CO D (mg/ L) 2,000- 5,000 700- 3,000 1,000- 3,000 1,000- 5,000

Low St rength Wastes

COD (m g/ L) 300, 500

Screened, degritted domestic sewage

T he appl ication of t he upflow anaerobic slud ge blanket process to treatm ent of screened degritted domestic sewage a t ambient temperatures is currently being in vestiga ted in the Netherla nd s with , it is under stood, encouraging init ial resu lts.

TABLE II: SOM E FULL SCALE INDUST RI AL ANAE ROBIC DIG ESTION PLANTS Was1e Type Palm Oil (Malays ia) Potato (Australi a) Sugar Beet (Net herla nds) Feedlot (B ee l) (U.S.A.)

Reac1or Type

lnfluen/ COD mg/L

Organic Load kg COD/ml-d.

Hydraulic Load 11il/ml-d.

Tempera lure

oc

Trearm e111 Efficiency %

CON.

25,000 (d)

1.3 (d)

0.053

46

92 (d)

5 1,000- 115,000

9- 10

0 .1 29

35

90-95

4,000-5,200

14- 16

3-4

30-34

87-95

(e)

(e)

0.067

(e)

(e)

(a)

A.C. (b)

U.A.S . B. (c)

co

(a)

(a) CO . - Convent ional now th roug h (b) A.C. - A naerobic co ntact

WAT ER

(c) U.A.S.B . - Uprtow anaerobic sludge blank et (d) 8.0.D. 5 ba,i,

(e) Operation data

1101

ye t arni lable

19

Control

Control of the anaerobic digestion process depends on adequate monitoring and contro l of the various factors mentioned previously.

For day to day operation, monitoring of the fo llowing parameters is necessary: temperature volatile acids/alkalinity ratio pH grease volatile acids fibre alkalinity toxic substan ces Provided the process is not operated beyond the limits of loading rate, pH, buffer capacity, tempe rature and so lid s wash-out, anaerobic digestion represents a stable and effective treatment method. Automatic control of the process can be achieved relatively simply by continuou s measurement of one or more of the above parameters.

COSTS The significant economic advantage of the anaerobic digestion process over the conventional activated sludge aero bic treatment process for the treatment of high strength industrial wastewater is illustrated in Table III which compares the two processes for a loading of 10000 kg/d of B.0.0 .

TABLE III: COST COMPARISON OF ANAEROBIC & AEROBIC TREATMENT BASED ON BOD 5 LOAD OF 10000 Kg / d Anaerobic Digestion

Parameter Temperature Organic Loading MLSS F/ M

8005 Removal

c¡ci

35 8.3

(kg / ml -ct)

Activated Sludge Ambient

(g/ ml)

3 00'.)

0.4

(kg 800 5/ Kg MLSS) ("lo)

95 1200 76.9

(ml)

Reactor Volume Settler Vo lume Aerator Power

(ml) (kW)

CAP ITAL COST

($)

400 00'.l

700 00'.l

$ 60 00'.l 8 00'.) $ 12 00'.l $ I 500

$ 105 00'.l $ 14 00'.l $ 12 00'.) $ 78 00'.)

TOTAL ANNUAL COST

$ 8 1 500

AN UAL COST per kg 800 5 remo ved - c/ kg

C

3.54

REFERENCES BRYANT , M. P. , BR IDE , 8. C. and WOLFE, R. S. {1968). Hydrogen oxidizing methane bacteria . J. Bacleriol. 95, 118.

LETTINGA, G., VAN D ER BEN , J. and VAN DER SAR, J. {1976).

Anaerob ic trea1men1 of suga rbee1 was1e . H 20, 9, 38. (in Du1ch).

LETTINGA, G., VAN VELSEN , A. F. M., DE SEEUM, W. and HOBMA , S. W. ( 1979) . The app licat ion of anaerobic digest ion of industria l pollution treatment. Proceedings of the 1st In ternational Symposium on Anaerobic Digest ion, Cardiff.

MclNERNEY, M. J. and BRYANT , M. P. {1979) . Metabolic stages and energet ics of microb ial a naerobic digestion. Proceedings_of th e 1st International Symposi um on Anaerobic Digestion, Card iff. '"' PARKER, J. G., LYONS, 8. J. a nd PARKER, C. D. (1979). Treatment of high strengt h dair y processing wastes by anaerobic digestio n in full sca le plants . P roceed ings of t he 1st ln1erna1ional Symposium on Anaerobic Digestion, Cardiff.

SCHROEDER, E. C. ( 1975). Pilot scale treatment of wine stillage. U.S. EPA Report 660/2-75-002.

SHEA, T. G . , RAMOS, E., RODRIGUEZ, J. and DORION , G. H. {1974).

Rum disti llery slops treatment by anaerobic co ntact process. U .S. EPA Report 660/ 2-74-074 .

STANDER, G. J. , CJLLJE, G. G., BAILLIE, R. D. and ROSS, W. R. (1968).

Invest igations of the fu ll-scale purification of win e disti llery wastes by the anaerob ic digestion process. National Institute for Water Research of South Africa, Research Report-270.

ZEIKUS, J. G . {1979). Microbial popu lations in anaerobic digesters. Proceed ings of the 1st International Symposium o n Anaerobic Digest ion , Cardiff

95 8333* 76.9 340

ANNUAL COSTS Interest & Redemption (15 % of Capita l) Maintenance (2% of Capital) Labour & Supervision Power @ 3c kwh

$

The process has major cost advantages over aerobic processes for the pretreatment of indu strial wastes with minimal land area requirement and no odour nui sance. If offers major opportunities for application in the developing ethanol industry and in other indu stries producing organic wastes requiring pret reatment prior to sewe r di scharge or subsequent polishing treatment.

SANDFORD D. CLARK Continued from page 16

$209 00'.)

C

9.08

â&#x20AC;˘ Lined ea rthen basin.

It is clear from the this compar iso n that, even assuming a low cost activated sludge aeratio n basin constructed in earth and plastic lined, the anaerobic process rs significa ntly cheaper than the aerobic process.

The anaerobic dige stion process has the further advantage of small land area requirement, a major consideration for industries of the type mentioned ear li er , located in metropolitan areas wit h minimal land avai lability.

The comparison takes no account of the energy value of the byproduct methane from anaerobic digestion which in the above example wou ld result in a credit of $ 15,000 p.a.

For the same reason, the I 976 E.C.A .F.'E. Working Group of Experts on Water Codes stressed that, in drafting legislation, its ed ucat ive effect must not be overlooked. Permissive provision s are to be preferred to restr icti ve sections . 18 If this hypothesis is correct, it might well be that th e Tasmanian Act wi ll be more success ful in promoting co-opera tion a nd co-o rdination between government agencies in the app licat ion of legislat ive co ntrols than ot her legislation.

The range of legislative responses to th e problem of int er-agency co-operation demonstrated by the previous paragraphs indicates, I suggest, that the problem of co-ordination is both omnipresent and unresolved. Certain ly, there are no tried and tested formu lae which has been proven effective in practice . It is, I think, the development of such formu lae which can induce inter-agency co-operation, not just in relation to the control of waste discharge, but in wider spheres of multiple objective planning, which presents the major legislative challenge for the future.

CONCLUSIONS Anaerobic digest ion represents a cheap, simp le and effective direct waste treatment method for a wide range of ind ustrial wastewaters and can produce a valu able by-product in methan e. Choice of reactor type for the process is dependent upon the organic and solid s concentration of the waste to be treated. The treatment of organic loads of at least 10 Kg COD/ ml-day have been demonstrated in full sca le operations. With adequate engineering des ign and control over the environmental factors influencing the process and provided the process is not operated beyond it s acceptable limits, stable operation with minimal superv ision and maintenance can be achieved .

20

REFERENCES 15 Sec Slate Pollution Co ntrol Commiss ion Act, 19 70 ( .S. W.) , Clean Waters Act, 1970 (N. S .W.); Clean Wa ters Act 1971- 1976 (Qld.) ; Environm ent Protectio n Act, 1973 (Tas. ); Environmenl P rotect ion Ac t 1970 (Vic. ); En vironmental Proctect ion Act , 197 1- 1975 (W.A.).

16 Commo nwea lih Par liament , Senat e Selec t Committee on Water Po ll uti o n, Waler Pollu1io11 in Australia, (Canberra 1970).

17 Protean (H oldings) Ltd. v. Environ111e111 Pro1ectio11 Au1hori1y [ 19771 V.R. 51, 55.

18 Un i1ed Na tions, " Water Legislation in Asia and the Far-East", Wa1er Resou rces Series No. 35, (New York, I 968) , p. 162.

WATER

DESALINATION STATE OF THE ART 1980 E. A. Swinton INTRODUCTIO N Desalination of seawater a nd brac ki sh water is ra pidl y expa nding in ma ny co untries, pa rti cula rl y in th e Midd le Eas t, where the o il-ri ch Arab nat io ns a re deve loping th eir eco nomies by building bot h electric power pla nt s a nd desalinators, a nd also in the Caribbea n (mainl y fo r to urism a nd deve lop ments). Howeve r, in Australia, comm o nl y regarded as bein g the dri es t continent , there has been little a pplica ti o n of desalinati o n to date. T a ble I is a summary o f current installati o ns within Austra li a; th e tota l is o nl y a fr action o f I 0/o o f th e total wo rld ca paci ty . In stallati o ns are limit ed to iso la ted min eral development s, to urist reso rt s a nd some small desert set tlements; bu t t here is a n increas in g ma rket for upgradin g city water for speciali sed uses.

As our use of water supplies increases and as reso urce development a nd to uri sm ex pa nd , t here will be applications in th e future, not o nly for small pla nts, bu t event ua ll y for la rge muni cipal in stalla ti o ns.

This paper is a hi ghly simplified rev iew of the tec hnology at prese nt ·ava ila ble, with some brief comm ent o n newer develo pments la rgely stimula ted by th e increas ing cost of energy.

PROCESS ES AVAILABL E The fi eld o f desalina ti o n can be roughl y di vided into th ree areas: I) Large-scale seawater 2) Small -sca le seawa ter 3) Brack ish water T a ble 2 li sts the different types o f desalina ti o n techno logy a t present availa ble, wit h the rather bewilde ring array of acronyms which pepper the interna ti o nal li tera tu re . There is o nly o ne techno logy, Reverse os mos is, whi ch is a pplicable to all thr ee a reas, a ll ot hers have th ei r ma rk et limited to two a reas or less.

FACTORS AFFECTI NG CHOICE Some o f the facto rs which have to be considered when choosing t he most suit a ble system are discussed below:

T A BLE I DES ALI NATIO N PLA NTS IN A USTRALIA, 1980 Compiled b y McCarth y, J . V. and Swinton , E. A .

Loca tion

Operator

kL/d

South A ust.

Moom ba (a)

Santos (GAS)

2 X 225 +

MSF (6sts) Leigh Cree k E.T.S.A .

700 RO Po rt A ug usta (b) A.N. Rl y RO ?

Coober P edy (b) E.W.S .

135 + 150 RO Mangur i A.N.Rly. 60 RO Cook A.N.Rly. 45 RO Umoo na Abo . Res .

20 RO Abo. Res .

Yalata 7 RO Clare Min . Water Co. 5 RO Port Li nco ln Gov t. M ea t W ks .114 RO Adelaid e Fl ind ers M ed.

RO 6 Mad ura Abo. Res. 8 RO Osborne (c) L C. I. 600 IX (Siro) West A ust.

Agnew (c) A. ickel 66 RO Barrow Isla nd WAPE T 46 RO Mt. New m a n Mt.New ma n 15000 IX Damp ie r

Useless Loop Denham Lake Mac Leod T elfe r Raw linn a Eucla Coral Bay Karrutha

Kwina

a) Energy Th e present a nd fu ture a vaila bility a nd cost of va rious form s of energy are the most significant fac tors in feasibility studies o f desa linati on. All di sti lla ti o n processes (except sola r) rely on steam. Th e higher the temperature the mo re efficient the evapo rati on, but because of scaling problems the maximum temperature usable fo r seawater is a t prese nt ca 125 °C a nd either acid (now regarded as risky) or sophisti cated anti-scaling chemicals must be used e.g. " Belgard EV" , (a polymaleic acid formul ation). Older pla nts operate at just below 100 °c, using deaeration a nd polyphosph ates to control scaling . A new concept is to use a temperature of 7 1-80 °C, where scaling is alm ost impossible, together with large a reas o f cheaper aluminium tubing.

Steam can be generated in a boiler at a ny temperat ure fro m l00 °C to ca 550 °. When generated a t lower temperatures (and pressures) the capital cost of the boiler is lower, bu t the potential energy of the fu el (oil , coal or nuclear) is not utilised to the best.ad va ntage.

For single-purpose distillation plants steam is produced a t ca 130 °C, a nd opera tes the evaporator between the scaling limit o f, say, 125 °C, d own to rejecti on a t a mbient temperature. For dual-purpose pla nts, steam is generated a t as high a temperatu re a nd pressure as allowed by modern boiler materi als (up to 550 °C) and the steam pressure is utilised to genera te electric power fo r sa le to the communi ty. Since the normal condensing turbine uses the energy of the steam down to ca 30 °C, if stea m is ex tracted at a higher temperature for the desalinator, then it mu st be assigned a cost value.

It has bee n estima ted that steam ex tracted a t 130 °C costs a bo ut 30 0/o , at l00 °C a bou t 20 0/o, a nd a t 75 °Conl y a bout 10 0/o of th e cost of steam used in a sin gle purpose evapora to r.

I

E.A. (Bob) Swinton is a Principal Research Scientist with the Division of Chemical Technology, CSIRO. A longer version of this paper was presented at the A WWA Summer School, Adelaide, February 1980.

WATER

Process• Feed mg/ L Purpose#

Perth Frema n tie Ex mo uth G ul f N .T. Te nnant Cree k Quee ns la nd Blackwater Oakey Hayma n Is. Heron Is. Ma rl boro ug h N .S.W. Singleto n Tarago Victoria Port Fairy

12000

B + D

6000 <flo re 19000 8000 9000 18000 8000 2600 800 700 13000

B D D D D D D D

600

+ + + + + +

T T T C T C

B B + L D + T B(Demo)

4500 2500 500

D D D + B + I

1000 5000 5000 Bo re 2000 2500 14000 Bore 1000 750 750 750 1700

B + L D D D D D + T T Irr B D + D + D

Ha mers ley

2 X 160 + 13 + 2 RO + IX Shark Bay Salt 100 RO P. W. D .

100 + 100 RO Texada, Salt 23 RO New m o nt , Gold 70 RO A.N.R ly.

RO 36 Mote l, ("va n 16 RO Motel, C'van 3?

RO Go vt.

5 RO SECWA 720 RO QE Med ica l 45 RO Hosp it a l RO 5 U.S. avy 440 ED

•

Peko Wallsend

100

RO

1900

B

Qld. Coal Army Hotel P&O H o tels Shi re

II 46 100 30

RO RO MSF S RO RO

2000 500 Sea Sea Bore

D I T T D

City 14000 Wood land M ines 65

IX RO

490 1000

D D

G laxo

RO

900

45

I +

T

L L

• Re fer T a bl e 2 = do m esti c, T = to u rist , B = bo ile r feed , I = indu stri a l, C = com mercia l, L = lab. (a) Expandi ng. (b) Te nder ing . (c) Ceased.

List does not incl ude demi neralisation of potable water fo r boiler feed or special ind ustria l uses .

# D

The benefit s o f coupling a desalina tor with a power sta tion a re not o nly a mo re effi cient use of primar y fu el, as described above, but also th e sha ring o f supervisory a nd suppo rt fa ciliti es. However, th e penalty lies in t he problems o f ma nageme nt of two sepa rat e obj ectives, since electri city ca nnot be stored, a nd in sea-level a rid zo nes, storin g of product wa ter beyond dail y bala ncing reservoi rs ca n becom e very ex pensive or wasteful. Storage by recharge of underground aquifers is a poss ibility, but th e risks and cos ts may prove prohibiti vely high.

Thi s may no t apply wh ere the major custom er for both po wer and water is a n indu stri al pl a nt since the demand s ca n be matched. In specia l insta nces it may be possi ble to integrate th e was te heat o f a n

21

ind ustrial process, such as a smelter, to provide th e energy inpu t for a disti lla tion plant. Th is as pect sho uld not be overlook ed for Austra li an conditions.

Suc h considerations of energy economy o nly a ppl y to d istill ation plants. Th e membrane processes, RO and ¡ED, as well as th e smallscale di stillation process VC, mu st use eith er electricity, or d irec t drive diese l engines, and th ere is no question of " dua l-purpose" use of fu el.

Power for small isola ted communiti es or plants is usuall y ge nera ted by diesel generato r sets . The fu el cost alo ne accounts for 6-8c/ kWhr and other ex penses bring the total to 8-12c/ kWhr, so th a t operation of RO or ED can be somewhat expensive. Waste heat from diese l engines can be recovered. 20-30% of th e fue l energy ca n be recovered from the jacket cooling wa ter to temperatures up to 108 °C if so designed, a nd a nother 20% can be recovered from the ex haust by was te-heat boilers whi ch ca n be operated at up to 150 °C. Small eva porators can be linked with these heat sources, to yield about 1.4 L water per k Whr of generated electricity. (b) Maintenance Despite claims of 85-95 OJo on-t ime capabi lit y of desalin ators, t here is no doubt that in isolated areas, th e lack of trained supervi sion a nd maintenance has led to severe co rrosio n of evaporato rs, and irreversibl e foulin g of RO and ED plants.

The choice a nd design of the most su itable system mu st take not e of the technical environment in which it mu st operate.

TABLE 2. DESALINATION PROCESSES

Seawater Distillation Processes, either single-purpose, for water alone or dua!-pu,pose, for power and waler.

MSF MED VTE HTME VC VTE / MSF WHO

multistage nash d istillat ion mu lti-effect dis tillation vertica l tube eva porator horizontal tube mult i-effect va pour compressio n evapora tor hyb rids waste- heat dis tillation

" drought -proo f" a co mmunity, then the load factor wi ll be even less.

A desalinator can be installed in a developin g community to "hold th e

fort" until conve ntional supplies ca n be estab lishe~or expa nded, or until a more suitab le groundwater can be found . Its low ca pital cos t a nd modular constru ct ion make the desa linator high ly suitable for such duties. However, its high operat ing cost ensures that it wi ll be used as li ttle as possib le once the conventional supp ly is esta blished.

Co nsidera tion s such as these will affect th e choi ce a nd design in order to redu ce capit al cos ts a t t he ex pense of fu el efficiency.

LARGE-SCALE SEA WATER DESALINATION (a) MSF:

Multi stage fla sh di sti llation is sti ll t he workhorse of the industry , with well over 1500 ML/ d insta lled capacity in 1980. The process was first developed in 1957 but after a promising start , passed through a di sa ppoint ing per iod. Th is was mainly d ue to co mpetit ive efforts to red uce ca pital cost by using cheap materials o f construct ion, which, if look ed after as th e desig ners had intended , would probably have suffi ced. U nfortunately, th e o nl y met hod for high temperature sca leco ntrol in those days was dosing with sul phuri c acid. In the hands of inex per ienced pla nt operators t he comb ination frequ ent ly led to d isaster .

The prese nt state of the a rt emp has ises the use of corrosion -resi sta nt meteria ls, such as stainless steel, tita nium, copper/ nicke l for tubes, a nd stainless steel, FRP, even concrete, for th e shell s. T he ex tra expense is j ustified . Better scale-control chem ica ls have also bee n developed.

The Sa udi Arabians are finan ci ng stud ies to increase the size of unit s from the curre nt max imum of 20 ML/ d up to a poss ible 250 ML / d . For th ese ma mmoth plant s, research and development is needed in the areas of development of material s (e.g. concrete, plastic in ternals), th e structural and therma l ex pan sion problems, and the hyd ra ul ic design parameters fo r t he very large flow s of " flas hi ng" brine. E ngineeri ng innovation is aimed at developing met'iod s of fabricat ion of vessels and tub e bund les, a nd transportation of enormou s vessels.

Membrane processes S RO HTE D

sea water reverse osmosis

(b)

hig h-temperat ure electrod ia lys is

Despite these developments, Cox, ( 1980) asserts that MSF will eve ntu ally yield to other d istill ation techn iq ues, predominan tl y HTM E (h orizonta l tube mult i effec t). T he ratio na le is that t he ' flashboi lin g' of MSF is a vio lent process, whi ch will always impose high er eros ive and corrosive loads on mater ia ls of co nstruction; whereas in HTME the boilin g ta kes place in a bubb li ng film fa ll igg over the outer surface of the tub ing. Formation of hard sca le does not occur, hea t transfer coe ffi cie nt s are high, and the process also consumes less pumping power a nd ca n achieve a yield of 15-17 kg water per kg of steam , which is about 20% bette r than most MSF plants . HTME plants of up to 15 ML/ d per unit are currentlt be ing bu il t.

Others SD F

solar distillation (minor) rreezing (still und er development) (V FVC, VFRC , VFEA, SRP)

Brackish Water: Membra ne processes RO ED Ion exchange Freezi ng Distillation WHO SD SA MSF

re verse osmosis hollow fin e fibre, spi ral wo und , tub ul ar e lectrodia lys is polar it y reversa l, EDR : balanced press ure chem ical rege nerat ion , th ermal regenerat ion (Sirot her m)

as above waste-hea t disti ll ation so lar distillation Solar a ssisted MSF

(c) Load Factors Demand for water in Austra lia n citi es is notoriou sly seaso nal , due to the huge amoun ts used for waterin g of ga rdens in th e dry seaso ns.

H owever, if desa lina ted wa ter is supplied at , sa y 150c per kL , th ese habit s a re unlik ely to persist, a nd demand should be mu ch more evenl y di stributed .

If desa lination is the on ly source of water for the comm unit y, then it is reasonab le to plan for a full load facto r for th e desalinator .

Fi gures of 90% to 95 OJo plant load fa ctor are frequentl y quoted by manufacturers and in terms o f maintenan ce down -time th ey ma y we ll be correct.

However, in practi ce, very few plants will su pply water a t design capa city. Even in indu stria l situat ion s, water demand will probabl y increase over the year.s, and capab ility mu st be insta ll ed ah ead of demand (the co nverse ca n a lso happen). This applies eve n more so to domesiic and touri st suppli es. Buros (1979) anal ysed the performan ce of seven desal in ato rs in Florida a nd the Virgin Isla nd s (presuma bl y holiday and retirement townships). In fi ve cases, the average dail y output ranges from 40% to 60% of design capacity. The reaso n is not the fau lt of th e technol ogy, but of lagging or errat ic de mand .

When th e desaiina tor is not th e only source of water, o r is used to supplement a con ventiona l supply, eith er for seas onal loads or to

22

HTME:

(c) VTE:

Vertical tube evaporat io n was once co mpeti tive with MSF, but in its original form , is unlik ely to be used beca use of scaling and co rrosion.

However, three recent developments ma y reverse th is trend: (a) foam ing flow (once the bane of evapora tor operators) has now been harn essed to yield ve ry high hea t tra nsfer coe ffi cients . (b) flu id ised glass beads in the boiling tubes prevent scal ing and dramat ically in crease hea t transfer coe ffi cients. (c) thin fl exi ble plas tic tubing is bein g investi gated for heat tra nsfer.

SMALL-SCALE SEAWATER DESALINATION (a) VC: The most freque nt ly used sys tem for small sca le di st ill a ti o n is va pourco mpress io n , primari ly beca use of it s com pact ness.

Mechanical energy is used to rotate a li ght-weight, hi gh-speed cen trifu gal compress or, which acts on the low pressure steam evaporati ng from the brine, co mpresses it, thu s rai sing its temperature a few degrees, and the hotter stea m then co ndenses on th e in side of th e tube bund les immersed in th e evaporator. Th eoretica ll y, it is the most economi ca l tec hn ique and has been used for over 50 years in the chemica l indu stry. It has fo und most app li cat ions on board ship and package un its are avai lab le from many manu factu rers. Th e Israeli (IDE) sys tem uses cheap a luminium tub ing. The max imum size of comp resso r a t prese nt li mits produ cti o n to about I ML / d pe r uni t, but ID E has tested a 4 ML / d unit for over a yea r.

(b) WHD: Small waste-heat d istillation systems are offered , on MSF or HTME WATER

principles. These can be coupled with the jacket and ex ha ust heat of diesel generators to provide about 1.4 L of water per kWhr o f generated electricity. As with all eva porators, these units are susceptible to scaling if not properl y operated . (c) SRO:

In sea water reverse osmosis pla nt s the first reverse osmosis membranes (cellulose acetate) did not possess the necessary degree o f salt rejection (98 .6% ) to produce acceptable water fro m sea-water , a nd they tended to compact und er the very high press ures required.

Modern membrane materials are capable of one- pass sea -wa ter desalination. RO membranes lose performance with time throu gh fouling by materials wh ich escape the rigorous pre-trea tment , or from poor operation, by the pre-treatment chemicals themselves .

There are now considera ble numbers of RO plants operating on seawater and experience is showing that membrane life is higher tha n was fir st expected . There seems little doubt that it represents a serious competitor to di stillation. However , there is no question of " dualpurpose'' use of the potential energy of fuel. Th e hi gh pressure pumps mu st be driven by electric motors or directly by diesel engin es, with the concomitant loss of 70% of the fu el energy . Unfortunately, prese nt technology demands that th e feed to RO plants be relatively cool to limit deterioration of the membrane, so that it is not practicable to reduce the vi scosity of the wa ter by preheating it with some of the waste heat. This is an area whi ch may chan ge in future .

The most proven membranes for sea-water are th e B- 10 Permea tors manufactured by du Pont, and th e ROGA/ TFC -801 , sold by Flui d ¡systems Division of UOP Inc. The form er are bun ches of holl ow fin e fibre s (HFF) of aromatic polyamides (similar to nylon) with a bore o f ca 45 microns . The latter are sheets of thin -film composites (TFC) membranes whi ch a re supported on a porous base, then wound into spirals with appropriate seals, inl ets and outlets . In creased com petition is ex pected from Japan ese and Europea n manu fac turers as they develop their own technologies .

T he largest sea -water plants are a 4 ML/ d du Pont sys tem in Venezuela, and a 12 M L/d ROGA system in Jedd ah . As report ed by Hickman (1979) the Jeddah plant is a temporary insta lla tion to bridge a supply gap. It was designed and installed in 18 months a nd ca n be uplifted to anoth er location. It provides a guaran teed 12 ML/ d o f 1000 mg/L product from 41 ,000 mg/L sea-water. In contrast to large evaporator techno logy, it is built up from a large number of small RO element s. These are spiral-wound (ROGA 1501 TFC 80 1) a nd are 150 mm diameter , 6000 mm long . A tota l of 4032 elements are arran ged in 9 trains for th e fir st stage (operat ed at 7 MPa) and 3 tra ins for the second stage (operated at 4 MPa). 21 diesel turbines, each 450 HP , provide the pumping power, and th ere are 3 simila r di esel generators to suppl y general power. In effect, 40 tonnes of fu el per day provide 12,000 tonnes of fre sh water. The capital cost was $30 million (US , I 979) which was somewhat higher than normal becau se o f the design for portability.

There are now many hundreds of small SRO in stalla tion s both shore-based and shipboard . For example , in I 978 the o perators of Heron Island, on th e Barrier Reef, replaced a scaled VC evaporator by an SRO system, using four Dupont BIO element s to produ ce 20 kL/ d (Leyton-Smith , 1980). With two yea rs of ex perience only 10% of original capacity has been lost. T hey have purchased two more elements to expand capaci1y, and have also simplified their pretreat ment system . Sea-water is drawn from a well sunk into the coral sand, then merel y di sinfected with sodium meta bisulphite , adju sted to pH 6.2, filtered through 25 micron cartridges, a nd pumped at 6-7 MP a through the elements to give 25 -40 % yield . Prechlorin ation and alum flocculation have both been eliminated , since mal -operation of either cou ld severely damage the membranes .

Power consumption is approximafel y 11 kWhr / kL, or 75c of diesel fuel per kL of water .

In SRO , about 60-70% of th e feed is rejected as concentrate strea m , at nearly 7000 kPa . It is poss ible to recover so me of th e pumping energy from thi s stream. On the large scale, turbines can be used instead of a let-down valve; on th e sma ll scale , doubl e-acting reciprocating pumps are being developed . The choice is the usual one of ca pital expenditure versus energy saving. The smallest SRO sys tem is a port able hand powered unit , using such an energy recyclin g pump , to provide about 4 L/ hr (Seagold Indu stries , Vancou ver B.C. ).

BRACKISH WATER DESALINATION Th is term covers a wide spectrum , not onl y o f concentration but also of chem ical composition. At one end of the sca le, for example, coastal catchment s can be contam inated by wind -born e sea spray, either current or geological. Th e in crease in salinit y of the West

WATER

Au stralia n ri vers is caused by such a wa terta ble which is gra dua lly ri si ng as the fo res t cover is removed. On co ral islands or sand keys, the typi cal problem is co nta mination of th e seasonai" fres hwater lens by th e underlying sea-water. In th ese examples, the compositi on is virtually di lu ted sea-wa ter.

On the oth er hand , waters from deep or artes ia n bores refl ec t the particul ar reacti ve stra ta encount ered during their slow passage underground , a nd can range from sa turated calcium sulpha te to sodium bica rbonate, with or wi thou t any sodium chl oride, a nd with va rying contents of magnes ium , iro n, silica, sulphides as well as oth er ions in minor quantiti es. Dee p undergro und waters normally contain little or no orga nic matter , but shallow bores and surface waters usuall y co ntain widely varyin g qu antiti es o f colour, algae and other organi c colloids. On e poss ible suppl y of brackish water in a n arid communit y is recycl ed was tewa ter - either domestic or indu stria l.

Each bracki sh water presents specific problems a nd th e wide variation s in composi ti on make it more diffi cult to se lect the bes t process.

Considerable pretreatment may be necessary before th e desalin ati on process itself ca n be used . .

As li sted previ o usly, the ma in processes currently available are RO , ED and I X with som e interest bein g show n in distillation by waste heat, som e solar di still ati on processes, a nd freezing processes. (a) Distillation This process is now rarely considered fo r bracki sh waters, but in certain circumsta nces it could be competitive. An exa mple would be the se rvicing o f a large mineral process ing plant where ample was te hea t was ava il able either from th e process it self or the concomitant power station . This free energy input could tip the scales away from RO o r E D , both of which must use prime energy. A n ex tra adva ntage is th a t di st illation yields ' distilled wa ter', direc tly suitable for boiler fee d a nd se nsiti ve processes, whereas membrane processes are usually designed to provi de 'acceptable' wa ter , still containing som e salt. T o produ ce boi ler fee d q ua lity th ey mu st be backed up by extra stages or by ion exc hange. (b) RO: Reverse os mosis was firs t app li ed to brack ish wa ter. Th e mark et is currentl y domin ated by hollow- fin e- fibre and spiral-wound sheet unit s, fr om a number of ma nu fac tu rers nea rly all in USA. T ubul a r unit s are less se nsiti ve to turbidity in the feed water , but th ey do not see m to be competitive for water desa li nation .

The press ures used depend on th e osmotic press ure di ffe rence betwee n the feed (or recycling concentrate in some cases) and the product, plus suffi cient driving press ure to achi eve a prac tica l throughput. Th is is a design va riable, subj ect to manu fac turer's recommend at io ns. The higher th e pressure used , th e hi gher the producti on, but th e more rapidly the membra nes will compact and lose effecti veness. In general, driving forc es of 3-4 MP a are used .

Th e product qu alit y is determined by ti_e " tightness " of th e membra ne, defined as " percentage sa lt rejection " - whi ch can be varied by the ma nufact urer from 90% to + 98 .5% (based on sodium chloride) according to th e feed and des ired product co nce ntrations . The " tighte r" the membrane, the lower the production rate. The lower the feed salinit y, the " more open" the membrane ca n be.

Power consumption is a fun ction of the applied press ure and the vo lume of feed wa ter whi ch mu st be pumped to attain the desired product volume, whi ch depends on th e yield. With so many va ri abl es, there is no read y rule-of-thumb to estima te powe r consump tion over th e wide ra nge of brack ish water.

The percent age recovery, or yield of usabl e wa ter, is set by the tend ency of th e con centrate to precipitate salts (usually calcium sa lts) in the film of virtua lly stagnant high concentration water next to the membrane. This is allev iated by design to achi eve turbulent flo w, a nd use of a nti -scaling chemi cals, such as poly-phosphat es. Colloidal silica , which is present in ma ny Australia n bore waters, is provin g to be a nui sance, a nd mu st be reduced by pretrea tment.

Pret reatm ent mu st remove any colloids (algae, bacteria, fe rric hydroxide , etc. ) which could phys ically foul the membranes .

Mod ern membranes are sensiti ve to chlorin e, so a safe fool -proof dechlorin ati o n system mu st precede the membran es if chlorine is used for pretreatment, or if an altern ati ve di sinfectant is used . (c)

ED

El ectrodial ysis was fi rst developed nearly 30 years ago , with I 0 years lead on RO , but has had a qui eter expansion rate. H owever, within a fairl y narrow ra nge of 500-2000 mg/ L salinity , it is becomin g more competitive with RO , as technological advances are made both in USA and J a pan . It is probabl y more rugged than RO in that feed water specifi cation s are not so critica l, particul arly for E DR .

23

At p resent there are two opposi ng li nes of develop ment. Ion ics have been using E DR since ea rly I 970's, with reversal of po la ri ty two or th ree ti m es per ho ur so tha t the precip itates wh ich sca le each of th e membra nes a re in effect electro lysed bac k into t he co nce ntra te strea m a nd flu shed out. Asa hi Glass have d evelo ped the ma nu fact ure of la rge sheets of membrane which ena bles them to build bi gger units. Th ey have a lso developed b etter turbu le nce-prom ot ing spacer grids betwee n the membranes in the co nce ntrate cells. T he pressu res in these cells, with low flows of concentrate, are virtuall y eq u al to the press ures in the wider d iluate cells, with high fl ows . Thus, the press ures o n eac h si de o f the membra nes a re the same, which redu ces leaks - a significa nt defect in E D stacks. However , these unit s cann o t be u sed fo r E D reversal, as th ey a re no t symmetri cal.

EDR elimi nates the need fo r aci d a nd po lyph osp ha te d os in g equ ipment, which is a signi fica nt practica l factor when consi d ering install a tions in rem ote a reas. For exam ple, so me of the origina l E DR units a re o pera ting virtu a ll y una tt end ed a t a number of highway res t sta ti o ns in USA. Ma intenan ce is pu rely electrical a nd mecha nical, with chemi ca l fh1 shing need ed onl y ab o ut once a mon th .

T he la rgest E DR pla nt yet insta ll ed is o n the Isla nd o f Corfu , G reece, a nd t reats 15 ML / ct. Th e pe rfo rma nce of t he p la n t is described a fter 18 mo nths operation, b y Arno ld (I 979). T he pa per includ es a detai led d escription of the po larity reversa l tec hn iques. T he raw water is 1400 mg/ La nd is predo mina ntly calcium sul p hate a nd b icarbo na te. A t full load, costs in 1977 were 5c/ kL for power, giving a to ta l of 8c / kL. A t 30% d ema nd facto r , power was redu ced to 4c/ kL, bu t th e in creased a mo rti sa ti o n b ro ught th e tota l to a b out l lc/ kL.

{d) IX If 'deslainat ion' is exten ded to encom pass 'deminera lisation ' , th en by far t he biggest installati o ns a re sti ll based o n ion-exchange (IX), a lth ough RO is now enteri ng this ma rket. Dem inera lisat io n is the productio n of hi gh pu rity water fo r power stat io ns a nd industry fro m t own supplies o r bo res which a re o therwise rega rd ed as potabl e.

As cit y water sup plies trend towa rds higher sa lini ty, thi s ma rket is likely to increase mo re rapidly than the m ore dra ma tic area of seawate r desalinat ion, o r product io n of potable water from sa line bores .

T he use of chemi ca ll y-regenerated io n exchange for prod uction of pota ble water. is practi sed , part icularly fo r the removal of calcium bicarbo n ate, by ' d e-a lk a lisati o n ' . As a m ea ns of d esalination , chemi ca lly regenera ted fon exc ha nge is onl y co mpeti tive up to a b out 1000 mg/ L , a nd su ffe rs fro m t he fact tha t t he e fflu ent consists no t o nly of the sa lts rem oved fro m the wate r b ut a lso the chemica ls used fo r rege neration of the resi n .

T he 'S irot herm' process, jointly developed by CS IRO and !C I Australi a, uses speciall y-d evelo ped io n excha nge res ins to take up sa lt fr o m co ld water . T he res ins are th en regenerated by flu shing with hot water. The yield o f po ta ble water is ab o ut 80 % a nd the upper limit of sa linity which ca n be effecti vely treated is a bout 2500 mg/ L. U n fort una tely, it has bee n fo und im practica l t o t reat waters contain ing calciu m sa lts, since calcium is take n up so avidly that it can not be regenerated by hot water. (Resi ns have been d evised which will dea l with calcium salts, bu t they a re no t efficient for sod iu m). It is th erefore necessa ry to use a 2-stage p rocess.

The first stage is to use co nve nti o na l io n excha nge sys tems to remove calcium (a nd sundry heavy meta ls) either by so ft enin g (regenera ted by brine) or dealk a li sat io n if the calcium is in the fo rm o f bi ca rbonate (regenerated b y aci d) . T he sodiu m salts are then removed by the therma ll y regenerated "Sirotherm " res in . The econo mics thus restrict the a pplicati o n of the process to waters which contai n at least 80% of the total disso lved so lid s as sodium salts. Such waters inclu de run-off fr om coas ta l regions a nd recycla ble indust ri a l waste. In t he low ra nge o f salinities, the process has p ote ntia lly three a d va ntages over RO a nd E D .

Firstly, it is more sui table fo r la rge sca le a ppli catio ns, sin ce it is a 'volu me' process, ra th er t han a 'su rface' process. Ju st as MSF dominates the large-stale sea-water fie ld, so an ion exc ha n ge process could ta ke over fr om membranes for th e la rge-sca le trea tment o f low sa lini ty waters.

Secondl y, it uses low -gra de therma l energy a t a round 100 °C. Th e energy co nsumptio n is a process va ri a ble - being the usua l co mpromi se of ca pi tal and energy costs. If the energy has to be furni shed by co mb ustion of fue l, which is expensive, t hen the invest ment in heat excha ngers wou ld be increased to red uce t he heat de ma nd to less tha n 5 MJ / kL . Such app licatio ns would be rare; th e norma l way would be to use low pressure stea m ex tracted fro m a powe r station , a t a b out one-q ua rter o f th e pri ce o r fro m o th er so urces of waste heat , such as di esel engine jac ket a nd ex hau st.

Th e process has been demo nstrated using co nve nti o na l fixed-bed

24

ion exchange systems at O sborne, So uth A ustra lia, as a pretreatmen t for a bo iler feed demineralisation system , an d in Tokyo a nd Yokoha ma on recla im ed was te water . However , th e econoltiy of th e process requi res a co ntinu ous, ra ther tha n a n intermi tte nt, techni q ue. Such a techniq u e, using ' m agneti c mi cro res ins', has been develo ped by CS IRO a nd IC ! A ustra li a, a nd a dem o nstra tio n pla nt of I ML/ct is to be constru cted o n a site in Perth by A ustep Pty Ltd . Presen t cost est imates show that capital costs sho uld be on a pa r wi th th e me mbra ne processes for med ium sized p la n ts, b ut th e inte ntio n is to develo p techniq ues for 50 ML/ ct uni ts.

From thi s stems th e third a d va ntage - it is a n a mbien t pressure p rocess, the o nly pressures being hydrosta tic , so th at chea p met ho ds o f constru cti o n currentl y used in con ve nti o na l wa ter treatme nt pla nts, sh oul d be a pplicabl e.

Th e early p ro mi se of widesca le app li cation o f the process has bee n thwarted by the calcium problem , a nd the phenomena l rise o f RO .

H owever, applicat io ns in the low sa linit y ra nge, and for large pla nts a nd its relative cheapness, pa rti cularly wit h regard to energy co nsumpti o n , ensures it a place in the ma rk et as city water supplies beco me mo re sa linated , a nd recla imed water is recycled , botn within industry a nd fro m ci ty back to indu stry. (e) Freezin g Processes T he p otentia l ad va ntages of freez ing processes, as a rep lacement fo r d ist illatio n , a re that cor ros ion at low tem perat ures is m in im ised, no scaling ta kes p lace a nd la tent heat of freez ing is mu ch less th a n the la tent heat o f vaporizati o n . A number o f systems have been tried, but for a combin a ti o n o f commercia l, politica l, as well as techn ologica l reaso ns, none has yet succeeded. No ne the less, prog ress is sti ll be ing made, though it see ms that the app lica ti o ns may be lim ited to waters wh ich, because of scal ing or p lugging, a re unsui tab le fo r d is ti llatio n o r mem brane processes. (f) Solar heat and wind power Sola r di st ill a ti o n ca n be appli ed to sea-water , but is mo re com monl y used for brack ish waters in desert enviro nments . Of a ll the sola r st ill s installed in A ust ra lia over the pas t 20 yea rs, no ne are st ill o perating .

T he reaso n is mainte nance, wh ic h in the Austra li a n la bo ur situat io n is too expensive. The tent-type stills may have app li cat ions in cheap la bour eco no mi es, where elect ric power is a bse nt.

H owever , with foss il fu el costs ri sing rapid ly, th ere is renewed interest in sola r hea t, a nd in wind powered electri city for desa lina ti o n - bu t th e systems pro posed are fa r more sophistica ted - incorporating MSF systems, and E D o r RO respectively.

A n assessment of t he prospects of so lar energy in ,desa lination has recently been made by McCa rth y (1979) in a report comm issioned by NE RDC. SUMM A RY 1

Pota ble water ca n now be prepared fr om sea-water eith er by evaporators o r by reverse osm os is. O n the la rge sca le, costs cou ld be as low as $ 1. 20/ kL with p resent energy prices . W it h reasonab le eco no my in use, a nd reuse, such costs co uld be to lerated by a ny co m mu nity with a su fficiently stro ng reaso n fo r ex istence - such as a mi n ing or touri st community.

Purifi cati o n o f bracki sh wa ter is less ex pensive. Reve rse os mos is is a t prese nt the most favoured techn ique, bu t for low salini ty waters, such as in reuse situations, bo th electrodi a lysis a nd therma ll y or chem icall y regenerated io n exchange are co mpeti tive.

Sola r and wind power desalination need a tec hn o logica l breakth rough for la rge scale a p plicat ion, b u t sma ll un its are practica ble.

Costs o f desa lin a ti o n a re di ffi cult to d efin e in a sho rt rev iew pape r , since they are so depende nt o n site fac to rs , cost of energy, int eres t rates a nd load factors . A discussio n of va ri ous estim a tes fro m the literature is given by Swi nto n ( 1980).

REFERENCES ARNOLD , J.W. (1979). Mu nicipa l desa lting p lant, Corfu.

Desalinalion 30, 145 -153.

BUROS , O.K. ( 1979). Econo mic aspect s of membra ne processes.

Ibid. 595-604.

H ICKMAN , E.C. el al (1 979). Jeddah sea water re verse osmosis installat ion.

Ibid. 259-282.

COX, B. (1980). Trend s in desalting. Pure Waler 9 o. 4, 10 Nos . I , 2, 3, 4.

LEYTON -SM ITH (1981) pri vat e communication.

McCARTHY, J .V. AND LE IG H , J .M. ( 1979). T he prospects for desa lina tion using so lar energy. NER D DC Repo rt MRL/ 994/ 79/ 002.

SW INTON , E.A. ( 1980). Desalinat io n. A.W.W,A, Su mm er Schoo l proceed in gs, Adela ide, 1980.

WATER

ESTIMATED ANNUAL WATER USE IN AUSTRALIA B. Klaassen be noted that the valu es shown refer to off-stream uses on ly a nd that water u se for hydro -e lectric purposes is not included .

T he tota l estimated water use in A ustralia of 17 800 x 106 m 3 correspond s to an average use of approximately 3 500 litres per person per day.

INTRODUCTION The fir s t nat ional su rvey of water use in Austra li a has recently been undertaken under the auspices of the Austral ian Water Resources Council (A WRC). This paper briefly summar ises the res ul ts of the survey. Basic information for the survey was provi ded by the major State water authorities in a format developed by a working group of the AWRC's Techn ical Committee on Pl anning and Management (now renamed the Planning and Management Committee). As the survey was the first of its kind, emphasis was placed on obtaining a broad quantitative picture of how much water is used, w here a nd for what purposes, in Australia. A descript ion of th e background to the survey, its development a nd detailed presen tation a nd discu ss ion of result s may be found in the fina l report on th e survey (AWRC, 1980).

TABLE I. ESTIMATE D AN

DISCUSS ION Irrigation accounts for almost three-quarters M the"total amount of gross applied water u sed in Austra li a. Some 87 per cent of the water used for irrigation is derived from surface water sources. Of this, a lmost one-third is obtained b y private diversio ns including private divers ion s from regulated stream s. Almost a ll of the gro undwater used for irrigation is obtained from private bores.

UAL WATE R USE I AUSTRALIA I N 1977 ADJUSTE D FOR AN AVERAGE C LIMATIC YEAR All ,â&#x20AC;˘a lu es are gross app lied water in I0 6 m 3 (l housa nd s of mcga lilres) Water Use Area (km 2)

Drainage Division

1 11 111 IV V VI VII Vlll lX X XI X II

Population

000 000 000 000 000

1 900 7 493 386 1 547 1 115

1 2 10 82 1 110 10 700 88 248

126 238 25 775 29 25

1 770 2 590 292 11 800 339 642

Total

000

000 000 1 067 000

In d ian Ocean Timor Sea G ulf of Carpen taria Lake Eyre Bulloo-Bancannia Western Plateau

5 19 000 547 000 638 000 1 170 000 101 000 2 455 000

80 000 78 000 64 000 41 000 2 200 6 1 000

36 29 35 13 I 21

6 68 2 I 0 2

6 19 37 43 3, 22

48 11 5 73 57 4 44

7 680 000

13 800 000

3 180

13 300

1 350

17 800

Public Private

2 440 260

7 990 3 580

256 498

10 700 4 340

Total

2 700

11 600

754

15 000

Public Pr ivate

195 286

19 1 620

11 329

225 2 230

Total

48 1

1 640

340

2 460

4 0

72

0 254

76 255

SOURCES

Groundwater

Oth er Not indicated

f

T ota ls may not be exact due to ro undin g.

RESULTS The res ults of the survey in terms of the selected major categories of water use are summ ar ised in Table 1. The delineation of the drainage d ivisio ns re ferred to in that table is s hown in Figure I. The va lues of water use shown are gross appli ed water , or th e gross a mount of water wit hd raw n (or reclaimed) for supply to use rs, including delivery losses .

The va lu es a re app li cable to the state of development as at I 977 adjusted for an average climatic year, i.e . what the water u se wou ld have been in 1977 had average climat ic conditions prevailed . It should

Bert Klaassen is Senior Engineer, S1ormwater Drainage in the Central Office of the Department of Housing and Construction . The paper is based on work carried out when he was a Principal Research Officer with the Department of Nat ional Development and Energy.

WATER

427 1540 157 33 7 222 369

Other Rural

451 273 68 1 063 82 3 14

Surface Water

ote

Irrigation

Nonh-East Coast Sout h-East Coast Tasmania Murray-Darling South Austra lian Gu lf South-West Coast

Total

000 000 000

Urban / Industrial

It has been esti mated that a total area of approx imately I. 5 million hectares was irrigated in 1977 of which over 60 per cent was for sown and native pastures a nd fodder crop s. More than 80 per cent of the a rea irrigated is located within the Murray-Dar lin g drainage di vision (Division IV), with approximately IO per cent a nd 5 per cent in the North -East Coast and South-East Coast drain age div isions respect ively.

T he tota l amount of gross app lied water for urban (including industrial) purposes has been estimated at 3 I 80 x J0 6m 3 in 1977 ajusted for average climatic co nditions. Over 80 per cent of this is supplied by public authorities drawing their s upplies largely from surface water sources. Private supplies account for approximately 17 per cent of the water u sed in this category and are drawn from both surface water and groundwater so urces.

Based on the data provided it has been estimated that so me 54 per cent of the total urban / industrial gross appli ed water in Australia is

25

for domestic uses , 26 per cent is for industrial uses, 14 per cent is for commercial uses and the remaining 6 per cent for other uses including losses.

The total urban / indu strial water use corresponds to a per capita use of 710 li tres per day , a figure which is comparab le to that of most western European countries and Japan, but less than corresponding figure s for the USA and Canada . This figure is however highly variab le even on a drainage division basis, as shown in Table 2. It is of interest to note that the per capita water use is higher in the less populated areas, and in fact the figures for the drainage divi sions are higher than those of the capital cities located within them in a ll cases (seeAWRC, 1980).

TABLE 2. PER CAPITA URBAN / INDUSTRIAL USE

Drainage Division

Average Use• litres per capita per day Total Domest ic

Per cent of Population Served

II Ill IV V VI VII-XII

86 94 83 70 92 91 75

510 290 390 6!0 3!0 630

720 600 I 350 850 590 1 040 1 500

Australia

89

380

7 10

600

• Figures based on population served by urban supplies, not total population.

Water use for rural purposes (other than irrigation) accounts for approximately 8 per cent of the total water use in Australi a. This includes water for stock , other agricultural enterprise, and domestic purposes in remote areas. Most of this water is privately su pplied and some one-third is drawn from groundwater sources.

Although the survey has provided the most detailed picture of water use in Australia to date, it has also shown that this picture is not complete . In addition, the design of the survey itself was kept reaso nably simple and did not include non-withdrawal or in-stream water uses, water qua li ty considerations and time trends. It became clear during the survey that the major problems with national surveys of this type related to administrative and organisational aspects for the coll ection, co-ord in ation and compilation of th e data , as well as the absence of recorded data in some areas.

To facilitate the collection of water use data in the future, a framework for the collection of such data should be developed in such a format as to enable the collation of data on a regional, state and national basis. Such a framework should include definitions, procedures for methods of collection, estimat ion and presentation of such data. All water agencies including local co uncils, water supply districts, trusts, boards and authorities should be encouraged to collect water use and related data within this common framework, and the compi lation of such data should be undertak en on a regular basis.

In addition there is scope for further studies and research into various aspects of water use.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The results of this survey have for the first time, quantified the total amounts of water used in Australi a for various purposes. They have also indicated that there are areas of deficiencies in this type of data and drawn attention to the need for co-ordination and stand ards of water use data prese ntation. Such data should comprise an essentia l component of, and be related to, the need s of the general water resource data base in order to provide a picture of the likely demands or requirements for the developm ent , allocat ion and management of our water resources.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The permission of the Department of National Development of Energy to publish this paper and the assistance of the Department of Housing and Construction with its preparation are ack nowledged .

The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of either Department or of the Australian Water Resources Council.

REFERENCES AUSTRALIAN WATER RESOURCES COUNC IL (1980) . The First National Survey of Water Use in Australia. Australian Water Reso urces Council Occasional Paper Series No. I, Canberra, A.G.P.S.

'

A.W.W.A. MEMBERSHIP Requests for Application Forms for Membership of the Association should be addressed to the appropriate Branch S1>cretary - see p.7 ~TAS.

Figure I: Australia -

Drainage Divisions.

COMMENTS ON SURVEY RESULTS

The information provided by the States in the returns to the survey differed substantially in the amo unt of detail and extent of data provided. This resulted from a variety of factors, including the amount of data availab le, methods of estimation used to fi ll in gaps, the resources appli ed to completing the return s, the requirement of data to refer to an average climatic year, some difficulties in interpretation and other factors . In general the survey results indicate that there are inadequacies in inform ation relating to water use and associated aspects, a lthough this varied with location , type of use and other factors.

26

Membership is in four categories: 1. Member-qualifications suitable for membership in the Inst. of Engineers·, or other suitable professional bodies. ($15 p.a.)

2. Associate-expe rience in the W. &.W.W. Indu stry , without forma l qualifications . ($15 p.a.)

3. Student. ($5 p.a.)

4. Sustaining Member-an organisation involved in the W.&.W.W. Industry wishing to sustain the Association. ($65 p.a.)

Plus State levy where applicable .

1981/82 MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW DUE

WATER

DEEP SHAFT

BOOK REVIEW

ACTIVATED SLUDGE PROCESS The article in ' Water' March /980 by Chirmuley had prompted the followin g comment f rom William Boby (Aust.) PI L representing Portals Water Treatmenr Lid. in Australia (Ed).

The March article describes the LC.I. process adopted by ECO Research - the Canadian Licensees, the significant features being the very deep (up to 250m) narrow shafts, enclosed shaft head works a nd fl otat ion for soli ds separation.

screened and degritted sewage and the primary sedimentation tanks are converted to secondary clarifiers this may not be favoured if digesters for primary sludge exist.

With substantial removal of carbonaceous materia l in the shaft , th e filters can operate in a high rate nitrifying mode with increased throughput, a high quality fully nitrifi ed effluent and minimum costs-.

In Di agram 2, the Deep Shaft adds to th e aeration volume , gives lower slud ge produc-

CRUDE SEWAGE RAS

FILTERS (N ITRIFYING) CLARIFIER EFFLUENT

DEEP SHAFT

HUMUS TANK

Diagram 1. Deep Shaft followed by nitrifying filters.

The U .K. based licensees, Portals Water Treatment Ltd., approach is more conventional, with 60m deep, open topped, shafts a nd traditional clarifiers. They see a major role for Deep Shaft in the municipal field in extending and uprating sewage p lants with the ex isting biological treatment providing polishin g or high rate nitrification. ln Di agram l , the Deep Shaft takes the

tion, better sett leab ili ty and longer sludge ages re sulting in high quality fully nitrified effluents from short retention times - an approac h well suited to restricted sites.

From the open topped Deep Shaft, the large quantities of CO 2 from the biological reaction escape to atmosphere, avoiding pH depression a nd the accompanying nitrifica tion deficiency.

SEWAGE

AERATION BASINS

I!

RAS CLA RIFIER

DEEP SHAFT

Diagram 2. Deep Shaft used to enhance aeration basins.

WATER

T he Mat hematics of Hydrology and Water Resources. Ed ited by E. H. Lloyd, T .

O'Donnell and J. C. Wilkinson 149 pps, $20.50, Academic Press, London, Dec. 1979.

This book is one of the conference series prepared by the Institute of Mathematics a nd its Appli cat ion s. It is based on Proceedings of th e Conference on Mat hematics of Hydrology and Water Resources held at the Universit y o f La ncaster, U .K. in Jul y 1976.

The book reflects the theme of the conference upon which it is based t his being "to encourage communication and interaction between hydrologists and mathematicians in ord er to improve and exten.d the application of mathematical techniques to problems of hydrology and water resources .... " It contains seven pa pers by eig ht a uthors all but two from Engla nd; the others being fro m Eire a nd California .

Tlie first paper by Dooge discusses the num erous " bl ack box" mathematical techniques for solvi ng input - output models.

Some reference is also made to solutions using conceptual models.

Wilkinson in the second paper discusses operational aspects of water resources problems whilst Rydz in his paper titled "Stochastic Storage Problems: The Water Management Background " concl udes that "a great deal of theoretical analysis . .. over the last few decades has produced a corresponding amount of literature but has had remarkably little impact at the business (i.e. practitioners) end" .

T he fo urth paper by Lloyd discusses Moran 's stochastic reservoir model and subsequent developments to it but makes no reference to the excell ent ,w ork in this area done recently in Australi a particularly by McMahon .

Amorocho in the fifth paper concerns him self with spatially distributed variables in hydrologic modellitg. In particular the tradeoff between the poor performance resulting from excessive model simplification and complex models with their conseq uent parameter uncertainties and excessive com putational time and cost are discussed .

The sixth paper by Ord & Rees also discusses spatial processes this time from the point of view of the measurement and modelling of rainfall .

The final paper by Clarke "M ultivariable Synthetic Hydrology: A T heoretical Viewpoint" suggests a number of topics for future research in this field .

This book is of limited value to the practising hydrologist but wou ld be of some use to the theoretician. Typically as with publica tions based on conference papers, there is no real attempt to link the papers together as a cohesive doc ument .

T he book suffers somewhat from being now four years in the process of being published and the editors have been remiss in not insisting that all papers should both commence with an abstract and end with a con clusion; on ly two of the seven papers in fact do t his.

T . J. FRICKE

27

CALENDAR 1981-82

BOOK REVIEW The Australian National University Press Publication 'An Ecological Basis for Water Resource Management ' ($39.50 C.C., $19.50 P.C.) published on 31st October, 1980, has a text of so me 400 pages and is edited by Professor W. D . William s, Chairman of th e Depa rtm ent of Zoology, University of Adelaide, with contributions from himself and 31 specialists.

Th e vo lum e consists of Introduction and seven section s. The basic philoso phy is that Au stra lian Inl and Wa ters Resources are not an extension of Europ ea n or North American Waters, but have a di stinctive identit y of their own.

Part I on the nature of the resources covers the chemistry of Australian Waters characterised by a prominance of sodium and chloride ions, higher salinity and nutrient levels and extreme variability of stream flow.

The ecological implications are examined.

The Au stralian biota is shown to have distincti ve biological features resulting from the Australian environment and develops a high degree of endemicity of spec ies. Part II limnocovers Management Problems logical and ecological, and management approaches to urba n lakes and ca tchments.

Part III on Water Usage has chapters on water quality, criteria, public health and medical aspects, wastewater as a resource.

Main impact on inland waters is the basis for Part IV, with conservation defined as a managing resources without degrading or destroying essential features.

The balance between water resource development and adverse conservation is propounded with case hi stories. Two chapters relate to biological monitoring and surveys.

Aquatic fauna is dealt with in Part V with chapters on aquaculture, freshwater fish management, introduced fish, cane toad, water fowl and crustacea .

Pa rt VI covers a nd describes representati ve man-mad e lak es nea r Bri sbane, Sydney, A.C.T. a nd in Victoria.

The final section (Part VII) covers special aquatic environments with contributions on farm dams, waste stabilization lagoons, billabongs, estuaries and coastal lakes. Contributors examine physical and chemical aspects and the resulting phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic fauna.

Thi s work fut fill s a need for a n eco logica l approach suited to Australian conditions, which has ex isted for many years .

The text is well supported by data and diagrams. While not intended as a criticism it is a pity that more contributions were not forthcoming to cover Northern and Western Australia biological conditions to match the high quality contributions covering Southeastern Australian conditions - mainly from Victoria and Tasmania .

The ecological basis for water resources management currently and in the future will become more essential and hopefully Professor Williams will marshall specialist bilogists for a follow-up publication.

F. R. BISHOP

28

1981

Aug. 23-28, Canberra, Australia Royal Aust. Chem. Inst. Symposium on Analytical Chemistry.

AprU 6-10, Perth, Australia AWW A 9th Federa l ConveRtion.

May 3-7, Bratlslavia International conference on numerical modelling of river, channel and overland flow .

OAHR, WMO, IIASH) .

May 11-15, Miami, U.S.A. Seminar on hydrology of tropical regions (WMO).

May 11-15, Brisbane 51st ANZAAS Conference.

May 18-21, Melbourne Seminar on drainage of agricultural lands.

(ANC - !CID) May 18-21, Mississippi, U.S.A. International Symposium on Rainfall -Runoff Modelling.

May 22-24, Wallingford, U.K. Practical Techniques for Regionalising and transferring Hydrological Variables Onst. of Hyd .).

Aug. 26-Sept. 2, Glenoble, France 11th Int. Congress on Irrigation and Drainage (C IID-ICID) .

Aug. 31 - Se pt. 4, Canberra, Australia Land s at 81 2 nd Au s t ra lian Landsat Conference.

Sept. [no dates], Melbourne, Aust.

Hydrology Symposium.

Sept. [no dates], Jonkoplng, Sweden Int. Trade Fair & Conference on Water Conservancy and Pollution Control.

Sept. [no dates], Berne, Switzerland Int. Symposium on Underground Tracing .

Water

Sept. 3-4, Sydney, N.S.W. Conference on Hydrau lics in Civil Engineering O.E . Aust .).

Sept. 6-12, Travemunde, German F.R. 2nd Int . Symposium on Aerobic Digestion .

May 26-27, New Brunswick, Canada 5th Canadian Hydrotechnical Conference (Can. Soc. C. Engineering).

Sept. 15-18, Amsterdam, Netherlands Int. Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment .

May 31-4 June, Washington D.C., U.S.A. 9th Int. Conference & Trade Fair Water & Energy for the 80's. (NWSA , U.S. Dept. Commerce.)

Sept. 21-25 , Jonkoping, Sweden onfer e nce o n I nt. Trade Fair & Water Co nservency & Pollution Co nt rol.

June 7-12, St. Louis, U.S.A. Am. Water Works Assoc. Annual Conference.

Oct. 4-9, Detroit, Michigan Water Pollution Control Federation Conference .

June 8-13, Kuala Lumpur Groundwater '81.

Oct. 28 - Nov. 1, Milan, Italy Anti-pollution '8 1.

June 14-19, Urbana, U.S.A. 2nd International Conference Storm Drainage OA WPR).

on

Urban

Nov.16-17, Miami Beach, Florida 1981 Int . Symposium on Environmental Pollution. â&#x20AC;˘

June 15-19, Brighton, U.K. Water Industry Conference '81.

June 20-26, Munich and Rome Water quality monitoring OA WPR).

June 22-24, London, U.K. Int. Conference, Maintenance Repair and Renewal, Sewerage Systems - Sewerage '81.

O.C.E.) June 23-27, Munich, Germany 5th Eur. Sewage & Refuse Symposium (EAS).

July 6-10, Perth, W.A. Groundwater Hydrology , Short Course (Murdoch University .

J uiy 27-29, Brisbane Course, Principles Wastewa ter Trea tment Design and Operation . (Q ' ld . University) July 29-31, Brisbane Control and Man age ment Plants. (Q'ld. Univer sity)

Act.

Sludge

Aug. 10-14, San Francisco Water Forum '81.

Aug. 19-21, Melbourne, Australia Conference on Computers in Engineering.

O.E. Aust.)

Aug, 23-28, Washington D.C. Water Re-use in the Future (A WW A) .

Nov. [no dates], Adelaide, S.,Aust.

Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium .

Nov. 23-27, Brussels, Belgium 2nd Aqua-Expo Exhibition and IA WPR / ANSEAU Conference on Micro-pollutants in the Environment.

1982 Jan. 19-22, Basie, Switzerland European Exhibition and Conference for the Construction of Maintenance of Pipelin es Europipe 1982.

Feb. 22-26, Hobart, Tasmania An nu al Engineerin g Co nferen ce . (L E.A .)

Mar. 29 - Apr. 2, Capetown 11th . Co nference o f IA WPR. AprU 20-30, Monte Carlo, Monarco Int. Hydrographic Conference.

May 10-14, Hobart, Tasmania Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Meetin g.

May 11-13, Melbourne, Victoria Hydrology Symposium.

May 10-14 , Sydney , Australia 52nd . ANZAAS Conference.

May 10-14, Melbourne, Australia Hydro logy Symposium .

WATER

National Capital Development Commission

ADVERTISING IN 'WATER' JOURNAL Of AWWA

'Waters of the Canberra Region' Ca nberra's planning and development autho rity, the National Capital Developmen t Commission, will shortly publish a major technical report on the quality of water in the Canberra Region.

The report, Technical Paper No. 30 , ' Wa ters of the Canberra Region ' wil l bri ng toge ther the results of studies already ca rr ied out on the waters of the Upper Murrumbidgee Basin.

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To obtain full details and order forms , please write to: ' Publi cat ion Sales', N.C.D.C. P.O. Box 373 Canberra City A.C.T. 2601 Tel. (062) 468281.

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WATER

29

DIRECT READING ENVIRONMENTAL LABORATORY A Portable Laboratory with Built-in Spectrophotometer The Hach DR-EL/ 4 is a portable laboratory which allows you to make accurate colorimetric measurements in the field. The package contains the reagents and equipment necessary to perform 28 different water quality tests. An instruction manual is included which gives clear, easy-to-follow directions for all tests .

Other Hach products for water quality measurement include - turbidimeters, dissolved oxygen meter, COD and BOD apparatus.

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JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AUSTRALIAN WATER AND WASTEWATER ASSOCIATION - 1981 Subscr iption to t he Journal for 1981 is in c reased to $8 p.a. or $2 per iss ue, includin g su rface mail to all countri es.

WAT ER

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