Worthington’s Offerings for New Zealand
In 2017, the catchment area above Lake Matahina experienced a flood of record. The TUFFBOOM barriers above Matahina Dam held back immense amounts of debris, preventing the spillgates and water intakes from being blocked.
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n 2001, Worthington Products introduced its TUFFBOOM debris control booms to the world. Since then, Worthington has expanded into designing and fabricating fish guidance systems, public safety boat barriers, and public safety signs for use around dams. Worthington is active around the world, including in New Zealand and Australia. Many of its products are appropriate for irrigation and hydroelectric installations in New Zealand. In this interview, Worthington President and CEO Paul Meeks tells us about the products that will be of most interest to New Zealand water managers. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your work in New Zealand.
32 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2021
Irrigation Leader: How many projects do you think you’ve done in New Zealand? Paul Meeks: I used to know the numbers, but it’s quite a lot of installs. Irrigation Leader: What is your message to potential clients in New Zealand? Paul Meeks: New Zealand is a wonderful country with great water resources for irrigation, water supply, and irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WORTHINGTON PRODUCTS.
Paul Meeks: We have done quite a lot of debris control and public safety work in New Zealand. Our first international project was in Australia for the Snowy River hydroelectric scheme following devastating fires around 2002. Shortly thereafter, power companies in New Zealand got wind of our waterway barriers and requested that we provide debris control barriers and safety barriers at their dams. We have had a good relationship, and today, we have booms and buoys all over New Zealand. In 2017, the catchment area above Lake Matahina experienced a near probable maximum flood event. The result was a sudden, massive influx of debris. The TUFFBOOM barriers installed by Trustpower the previous year prevented the debris from reaching and
blocking the floodgates and water intakes. Althought it took 6 weeks to remove all the debris from the reservoir, the utility never lost a single minute of generation because the booms kept all the debris away from critical areas. Trustpower estimates this saved it more than NZ$800,000 (US$564,920) in prevented generational losses alone. The client called us afterward to say that it could not have been more pleased with the performance. This was a flood of record, yet the booms prevented the dam from overtopping by keeping the debris away from the spillgates, allowing them to spill properly. The booms also kept all the debris away from the water intake. Not only was our client able to continue spilling water during a critical period, it was able to continue to generate power. It said that this was a huge payback that justified having booms around these dams and power plants.
