Worthington’s Offerings for New Zealand

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.

In 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.

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.

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 hydroelectric power generation. With dam ownership, however, comes a responsibility to assure the safety of these dams—the structural safety, of course, but also the safe use of these water resources from a public safety perspective. Much of the work on public safety around dams being done internationally relies on the dedicated work of dam engineers from New Zealand who serve on important committees with the International Commission on Large Dams. In addition to public safety, the safe operation of a dam includes preventing the blockage of water intakes and floodgates by debris or trash. As the folks at Matahina discovered, a sudden debris influx can have significant effects on the safety of the dam and on revenues. We encourage dam owners to consider how a debris control system can improve their operational reliability, reduce dam safety risks, and lower risks to the members of the public who recreate around these structures.

This 720-foot-long Worthington fish guidance barrier, installed at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River in Washington State, guides migrating salmon to the surface bypass for safe passage downstream.

Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about the work that you’ve done on fish barriers?

Paul Meeks: Our first fish barrier project was a massive system for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Bonneville Dam along the Columbia River in Washington State. Since that project, we’ve been highly successful in this realm. There are different types of fish barriers, including electronic barriers and physical barriers. We design physical fish guidance barriers. When I describe our work to a layperson, I tell them that we place a floating wall in a river or reservoir, usually 3 meters deep. The fish approach this wall and follow the current to a bypass or collection system. We prevent them from turning into sushi! Of course, the science behind these systems is quite complex and requires not just an understanding of barrier design but also a detailed understanding of fish and fish behavior. Placing a wall in the water sounds simple, but where we locate that barrier, what angle it is placed at, and how deep it is are all critical to whether it works or not. We have a fisheries biologist on staff who works closely with our engineers and clients to guide and inform us on the design as it relates to a particular species of fish. The success of fish guidance systems really comes down to locating and angling your boom to optimize the water’s surface velocity. The fish are going to follow the velocity. We see a lot of people go out and install fish guidance systems without spending the necessary time on velocities or positioning, and they end up getting an ineffective barrier that must be revisited and reconfigured multiple times to get it to function properly. We take time up front to understand the flows completely so that our clients’ guidance structures will achieve the ultimate level of success. In the United States, guidance systems are judged partially on how little water needs to be sent over the dam versus through irrigation channels or through turbines. If you’re passing water instead of putting it through a turbine or an irrigation canal, you’re basically throwing money away. We minimize the amount of water that has to be passed. IL

Paul Meeks is the president and CEO of Worthington Products. He can be contacted at pmeeks@tuffboom.com or +1 (330) 452‐7400.