Climate-resilient wastewater infrastructure

The severity of recent weather events in Australia has continued to highlight the need for climate-resilient infrastructure. Bushfires, floods, droughts and other unprecedented weather events have placed a significant strain on the Australian economy, as well as their devastating impact on both regional and metropolitan communities. Effective wastewater infrastructure designed for climate-resilience is vital to long-term sustainability.

The changing climate is already having an impact on the way we live, and higher temperatures, more extreme fire weather and extended rainfall events have the capacity to impact essential infrastructure across core utilities, including energy, water, transport and telecommunications.

To counter this, a proactive and evidence-based approach to managing risks posed by climate change is critical in the planning, design and asset management of infrastructure servicing homes, businesses, and communities.

Federal and state governments currently have climateresilience and adaptation strategies in place, designed to position the country to anticipate, manage and adapt to the changing climate. For these strategies to be successfully delivered, utility service providers have a responsibility to ensure the products and infrastructure they provide are designed, built, and managed in a way that can continually respond to unpredictable climate disruptions.

WASTEWATER SOLUTIONS THAT CAN WITHSTAND EXTREME WEATHER

True Water provides long-term wastewater infrastructure solutions that minimise lifecycle costs, while guaranteeing operational and environmental security. Kubota treatment plants are fibre reinforced plastic modules, with all components required for treatment of wastewater contained within the plant below ground and accessed by gas tight lids. The resulting regulated treatment environment is unaffected by fluctuations in temperature and weather.

In addition, its clever design requires few mechanical moving parts, ensuring critical failure points are minimised. The robust systems can even survive inundation due to extreme weather (such as floods or severe storms), with individual parts able to be cleaned, restored and operational again with little down time.

During the recent floods in northern New South Wales, a wastewater treatment system designed by True Water for the Ampol Service Centre at Chinderah, experienced severe flooding and system inundation. True Water were alerted to a power outage caused by rising flood levels through its TELEmi™ remote monitoring platform, allowing the team to successfully minimise impacts, and ensure the infrastructure remained viable following the one-in-100-year flood event.

The True Water team were on site within 48 hours of the flood water receding, to evaluate damage and restore the system to compliant operation. Despite being inundated, the system was still operational upon arrival.

True Water provided an interim solution for a failed mechanical component and replaced it within weeks. The Kubota plant was cleaned, recommissioned, and refurbished immediately and at minimal cost, preventing any impact to the environment.

True Water specialises in designing, installing, and managing high quality, sustainable wastewater infrastructure solutions for businesses and communities around Australia. Its goal is to consistently deliver fit-for-purpose infrastructure that meets the needs of the changing climate, while protecting the natural environment and improving quality of life for current and future generations.