5 minute read
INNOVATION & SUSTAINABILITY IN WATER NOMINEES
Bundaberg Regional Council | AECOM
Historically, the Bundaberg region has been developed on top of very low-lying overland flow paths without formal drainage infrastructure. This has led to significant community exposure to rainfall run-off in urban areas where surface water exceeds the capacity of the street gutters and creates ongoing nuisance to property owners. Bundaberg Regional Council currently owns and manages over $300 million worth of stormwater assets to provide local protections against rainfall run-off across the region. Recent decades have seen significant growth in Council’s assets which accentuates the need to proactively plan and manage infrastructure in a sustainable, adaptable manner. The asset management responsibility is complicated by increasing demand from the community to provide higher levels of service, changing risk environments and funding constraints. Council’s management of stormwater infrastructure has led to highly reactive investment, financially unsustainable outcomes, and no clear direction for the medium to long term. To break out of this unsustainable cycle, Council engaged in a collaborative partnership with AECOM to create an overarching Stormwater Management Strategy (the Strategy). The Strategy provides an essential framework for best practice asset management that caters for future growth, while maintaining and improving existing stormwater infrastructure. Furthermore, the Strategy defines a clear level of service for the community that employs risk-based decision making to inform long-term investment. It brings a holistic vision for stormwater management in the region by increasing awareness and education within the community, capturing social and environmental values, and identifying critical infrastructure needs.
THARGOMINDAH WATER COOLING PROJECT
Bulloo Shire Council, Peak Services, NRG Services
Bulloo Shire Council (Council) has made significant investment in solar energy installations and the new Thargomindah Water Cooling System (Project). The Project delivers long-term financial and social benefits while reducing risk to Council and the community, continuing their ‘green’ council legacy. Conceived by Council in consultation with Peak Services, and with a 60% funding boost from the Department of Local Government Racing and Multicultural Affairs, the Project was made possible. Council had a challenge like many remote councils; reliance on water supply from bores. Whilst the water quality is potable, without treatment the temperature exceeds acceptable level. The water temperature also degrades existing water supply and reticulation infrastructure. The Project uses reliable technology in an innovative way, without compromising on maintenance and operational ease. Bore water is cooled via plate heat exchangers that are coupled with cooling towers bringing water temperature down from 72 to 35 degrees Celsius. Water is stored in 1.5ML storage tanks and pumped on demand to meet town water supply needs. The bore water is kept separate from the cooling process so that water quality standards cannot be compromised. A final stage UV filter assists to ensure that the water delivered to households meets required quality standards. Using the power of the sun to reduce water temperature seems like an unlikely partnership, but the new solar-powered water-cooling towers have successfully reduced the potable bore water temperature to a cool drinkable level and reduces the degradation of existing water supply and reticulation infrastructure.
TOTAL ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY PROJECT (TAMS)
South Burnett Regional Council, GenEng Solutions, ATC Consulting
The Total Asset Management Strategy (TAMS) Project, delivered by South Burnett Regional Council, provides a platform of detailed study and analysis to support the management of Council’s major investment in water and wastewater infrastructure, address emerging issues and inform sustainable, long-term strategy. This significant project has established a 30 year planning framework for the entirety of Council’s owned water and wastewater infrastructure comprising of Gordonbrook Dam, weirs, bores, treatment plants, pump stations, reservoirs and reticulation networks for communities right across the South Burnett region. The project met aspects of all strategic priorities identified in Council’s Corporate Plan 2018-2023, including: 1.Enhancing the Community 2.Growth and Opportunity 3.Environment 4.Infrastructure 5.Organisation Excellence Council was successful in securing State funding under the Maturing the Infrastructure Pipeline Program (MIPP2). The MIPP2 is a State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning Program that supports development of strong project pipelines that can be advanced from conceptual notions through to firm propositions. The completed TAMS project clearly meets this objective. The project delivered numerous independent studies under dedicated project guidance ensuring integration with prior work and organisational knowledge as well as taking full advantage of significant concurrent studies. Studies addressed growth in demand, asset condition and projected renewal commitments, water security and financial sustainability. The over-arching regional Asset Management Strategies for Water and Wastewater draw together all components and present recommendations in a format suited for consideration and adoption by Council. Importantly, financial recommendations guide Council’s consideration of full cost pricing and sustainability.
URRAWEEN RESERVOIR - FLOATING ROOF AND LINER REPLACEMENT
Fraser Coast Regional Council
How do you take your largest water reservoir in network offline for a period of three months for relining? The short answer is, you bypass it. The reality (or the long answer) is that is takes 12 months of planning, trials, and teamwork to ensure water security. Isolation of the reservoir would remove supply to the suction side of the pump station supplying the network and limit supply to the network to only the gravity supply from trunk supply mains, a situation deemed to provide insufficient security of supply. The reservoir is a 32ML ‘in ground’ style reservoir where the water is stored between a 2mm HDPE floor liner (over earth) and a 1.35mm reinforced polypropylene floating cover and is the largest potable water storage in the Hervey Bay Network. The floating roof cover had deteriorated to the stage where holes were becoming more frequent and more significant with the repair of these holes was becoming increasingly difficult. Any rainwater that falls on the surface of the reservoir accumulates on the cover and needs to be removed through pumping. Any holes in the cover are likely to allow rainwater, contaminated by anything contained on the surface of the floating roof, into the reservoir. To renew the floating cover the reservoir had to be removed from service for a period of three months. The complexity was that, since it was 22 years since this asset had been taken offline, there was no documented process to ensure water supply continuity.
