ON THE WATERFRONT

ENVIROPACIFIC IS EXTENDING ITS WATER TREATMENT SOLUTIONS WITH THE ACQUISITION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA-BASED BUSINESS NOVATRON.

Specialist environmental, water and wastewater services business Enviropacific has a range of technologies and systems for water and wastewater treatment.

The recent acquisition of Novatron, a Western Australia-based business specialising in the design and manufacture of packaged water treatment plant with an emphasis on Microfiltration (MF), Ultrafiltration (UF), Nanofiltration (NF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems, expands the company’s end-to-end capabilities.

Sagar Adhikari, Enviropacific General Manager – Water, says the acquisition means turnkey solutions for a range of water and wastewater treatment applications, including all membranebased filtration plants, can be delivered in-house.

“In the past we have delivered some projects that required membrane filtration systems through external supports,” he says. “Now we will be able to offer our clients a wider range of technologies including MF, UF, NF and RO for various water treatment applications from concept to completion.”

Enviropacific designs and engineers temporary, semi-permanent or permanent systems to treat contaminated water with a focus on recovery and beneficial reuse. Specialist engineering and technical teams work closely with field personnel to develop solutions for complex remediation challenges.

Sagar says a significant aspect of the business is dealing with contaminated groundwater, including landfill leachate wastewater from construction sites, ie tunnel defence sites, airports, and residential and infrastructure projects of national significance.

He says wastewater produced during the tunnel boring process and various construction activities can contain high levels of suspended solid particles (ranges from ~3,000 mg/L up to 100,000 mg/L), higher pH levels (~12) and potentially hydrocarbons, heavy metals, other dissolved solids, Ammonia and PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). Historically, the construction wastewater has been stored in a settling tank, pH adjusted to acceptable range and discharged to the environment.

However, most projects now operate under an Environment Protection Licence (EPL) to treat water and wastewater with high solid loadings and co-contaminants including hydrocarbons, ammonia, heavy metals, PFAS, dissolved salts and nutrients to meet stringent discharge criteria.

Sagar says Novation’s skill set and experience will help to achieve stringent EPL conditions, in particular removing dissolved salts using RO process.

“Almost all projects now operate under an EPL which regulates discharge water quality,” he says.

He highlighted the Snowy 2.0 Project, the next phase of the Snowy Hydro renewable energy scheme, as an example. The project involves linking two existing dams, Tantangara and Talbingo, through 27 kilometres of tunnels and building a new underground power station.

Sagar says slurry produced during the tunnel construction will contain natural metals and salts. Once it is processed through a conventional water treatment plant the remaining water will still have

Enviropacific can now offer clients a wider range of wastewater treatment technologies.

dissolved salts, which can’t be released into the “pristine” environment.

“Discharge criteria for the project requires reverse osmosis systems to further treat that water prior to discharge,” he says.

“Moving forward, we’ll be able to use Novatron in-house.”

Paul Calneggia, Novatron Operations Manager, says the company has traditionally been involved in potable water, but the process remains the same for waste management.

“We look at what is in the feed water and design a solution for every plant,” he says.

“Water is not that simple. Contaminant levels can be totally different from one bore to the next. Through years of experience and knowledge we know what to look for and adjustments to make.”

Novatron is a familiar name in the mining and agricultural industries for designing and manufacturing packaged RO and potable, industrial and water treatment systems. It has also designed systems for remote communities, hospitals and water authorities. Paul says the acquisition by Enviropacific allows the company to expand its product offering.

“Enviropacific gives us exposure so we can look at areas that we traditionally wouldn’t have,” he says.

Recovery and beneficial reuse is a key focus when treating wastewater.

For more information, visit: www.enviropacific.com.au

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