The Yarra Valley Conduit (YVC), along with the Yarra Silvan Conduits (YSC) move water from Melbourne’s Thomson and Upper Yarra catchments into the metropolitan transfer system, via Silvan and Cardinia reservoirs. The Upper Yarra townships drinking water supplies are also taken directly off the YVC. A storm event in June 2007, where around 230mm of rain fell in the Upper Yarra and Thompson catchments in one night, resulted in high turbidity in the Upper Yarra reservoir with increased sediment deposited in the YVC. The transfer strategy for the 2007/2008 summer was to increase flows in the YVC significantly to meet the summer demands of the Silvan and Cardinia reservoirs. It was identified that this would create turbidities in the YVC much higher than experienced previously.

In order to prevent impact on the Upper Yarra townships, as well as the downstream reservoirs, the following plan was implemented:

• Conduct a sharp controlled increase in the YVC to flush out as much silt in as short a period as possible, and
• Change the Upper Yarra townships over to an alternative disinfected water supply during the flush.

This paper describes the challenges occurring as a result of the Upper Yarra turbidity incident, and the planning and implementation of the alternative disinfected water supplies to the Upper Yarra townships during the subsequent YVC recharge.

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The intention of this paper is to relay the issues encountered by Gippsland water at a number of it’s smaller water treatment plants with the thickening and removal of treatment sludge. The paper will outline the trials and tribulations of trying to find a cost effective and simple solution to the issues we were/are having, including sludge thickening, storage and removal.

The positives and negatives of such solutions will be discussed and an indication of where we are now and where we intend to be in the future will be provided.

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Bearings have been widely used all over the world in many different applications. They are small parts of machinery, yet indispensable in almost all applications. There are so common today that we tend to remain blind to the latest bearing technology breakthroughs and flow-on benefits.

The Conquest of Space brought us a lot more than a picture of a flag on the moon. It provided us with the impetus to develop and test newborn technologies in extreme conditions. As a result computer control technologies have advance rapidly in the past forty years. Now the stage is set for the application of these now mature technologies into novel applications.

The friction bearing of the past has been superseded by high-speed magnetic bearings made possible by advanced control hardware and software.

In the water industry, fine bubble membrane diffuser systems and mechanical aerators rely on a supply of air under pressure. High speed compressors are traditionally used in the municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants and industrial applications like production of glass wool insulation, production of thin sheet metal, other low pressure applications worldwide.

The HST Turbocompressor makes use of the new bearing technology and incorporates a number of other operational benefits and are now being used to replace the old aeration compressor systems to provide the required air. These units are based around a high-speed motor with integrated turbocompressor, a frequency converter and magnetic bearings. The magnetic bearings used in the units have no wearing parts, require no oil, generate no vibration and thus are highly efficient.

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Melbourne Water’s Winneke Water Treatment plant currently treats approximately 100GL of water per year. The implementation of a pipeline to supply water from the Goulburn River to the Sugarloaf Reservoir is expected to deliver an extra 75GL per year and increase Winneke treatment requirements. In order for the plant to handle larger volume of water, significant upgrades to the existing treatment system will be required. Melbourne Water undertook an extensive study of plant operations to determine the most appropriate upgrade strategy. To this end, a monitoring program was conducted over a two-month period in which alkalinity, colour, pH, temperature and turbidity of the water were tested. The monitoring results confirmed concerns raised by the operators regarding inefficient plant processes, including chemical dosing and hydraulic configuration. This program provided further justification for the need of several capital upgrades.

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Bright is a sub-Alpine tourist town located in North East Victoria. The Bright water supply is directly taken from the Ovens River with Chlorine disinfection only. Historically, the water quality has met the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines turbidity standard, however since the 2003 and more recent 2006/07 bushfires, the water quality has declined, with sustained turbidity levels exceeding 5 NTU. Ongoing Boil Water Notices and numerous customer complaints led to North East Water implementing temporary filtration at Bright.

This paper scopes the planning, construction and commissioning of a 3ML/day containerised filtration WTP at Bright.

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Kawana STP is located on the Sunshine Coast. This plant was originally commissioned in 1981 with two previous upgrades before the most recent one in June 2005. Included in this recent upgrade were: new inlet facilities; retrofitting one of two IDAL tanks into a continuous flow bioreactor with the provisions of four secondary clarifiers; the addition of two gravity drainage decks; and the modification of the existing secondary sedimentation tanks for the purpose of new contact tanks and chlorine disinfection.

This paper focuses on selected upgrade experiences associated with the commissioning in 2005 as well as the plant’s performance in the first two years of operation after this upgrade.

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The Morrinsville Water Treatment Plant (MWTP) is situated on Waterworks Road, Kiwitahi approximately 21.5km from the Township of Morrinsville. The water treatment plant was built in 1965 and is a typical Patterson Candy plant that consisted off 3 hopper clarifiers and 3 rapid sand filters. In 1980, an additional filter was built and a further filter and clarifier was added in 1991 giving a maximum flow rate off 330m3/hr.

The MWTP supplies treated water to the township of Morrinsville and includes Fonterra Dairy Co and Greenlea meat processing works. There is storage at the plant of 3300m3 and another reservoir of 3400m3 at the town outskirts. The entire reticulation system operates by gravity with a pressure reduction valve on the outskirts of town.

The operation of the plant was all manual except alum dosing that was controlled by a Stream and Current monitor (SCM). We need to carry out some automation and additional monitoring to collect data that is required for the NZDWS Compliance.

After discussions with the Asset Manager it was decided to carry out the automation of the plant in-house and calling in other expertise when required. The upgrade would include the chemical dosing, flow control, automatic backwash control of filters.

It was decided that the project would be completed in stages to ensure the project all flowed well and limited the amount of interruption to the plant operation. We had to ensure we kept the plant producing water to keep the reservoirs above 75% at all times.

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It is Victorian Government policy to extend water fluoridation to those areas of rural and regional Victorian currently without this important public health initiative. Since 2005, a number of towns have commenced water fluoridation. Furthermore, the Department of Human Services has recently updated the Standards for Fluoridation of Drinking Water Supplies document which is now out for consultation. This paper will outline water fluoridation policy in Victoria, summarise recent, current and proposed activity and outline the proposed new Standards for Fluoridation of Drinking Water Supplies document.

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The Edgeworth WWTW catchment area is 65,000 E.P. and treats an approx ADWF of 16ML/day. Edgeworth WWTW services the areas of Charlestown, Hillsborough, Cardiff, Boolaroo, Speers Point, Glendale, Edgeworth, Barnsley and Killingworth. Some of these areas, notably Cardiff and Hillsborough, contain industrial areas. There are a number of trade waste customers throughout the catchment

The original Edgeworth WWTW was constructed in 1933. The original plant consisted of primary sedimentation followed by four trickling filters and two humus tanks. Sludge was digested using covered cold anaerobic digesters.

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Yarra Valley Water trialled a pilot scale Fabric Media water filtration plant at the Craigieburn Sewage Treatment Plant between May and December 2007. The trial was undertaken to assess potential for economic and labour related savings that could be applied for future upgrades at STP’s.

Observations with treatment of overflow from the secondary clarifiers, processing between 10 and 25m3/hr depending on the setup were conducted with fully automated filtration equipment on a 24/7 basis. The huge quantity of data collected and the high proportion of plant flow filtered provide strong confidence in the project conclusions.

The results of the trial indicated that:

• Fabric Media is considered an attractive option for the filtration of clarified secondary treated water as the technology provides a 90% reduced footprint in comparison to sand type filters and this correlates with a significantly reduced capital cost for similar filtrate quality.
• Highly predictable filtrate quality, typically being turbidity less than 2 NTU, BOD less than 5 mg/L and suspended solids less than 3mg/L, from a wide spectrum of water, climate and operational conditions provides greater assurance of UV disinfection performance.
• The Fabric Media technology provides operators with significantly reduced labour requirements in comparison to Craigieburn’s existing up-flow pebble bed Clarifiers.
• The Fabric Media equipment provides greater on line time availability and lower backwash volume than alternatives.
• In tertiary filtration mode, with sensible coagulant application, the Fabric Media technology has potential to deliver reliable and effective phosphate removal capability.

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Reticulated sewer systems form an integral component of the water industry as they transport sewage from property connection points to the larger trunk sewers.

With the increase in accountabilities due to independent regulatory authorities and the potential impact on factors such as customer service and the environment, the reliability of this service has never been more critical.

The aim of my Kwatye project was to examine what strategies the water industry is utilising to improve the reliability of reticulated sewer systems. In particular, to investigate what systems are being used to address blockages due to tree roots and to determine if chemical treatment could be undertaken at Barwon Water within areas where it is currently not utilised.

Site visits to various water businesses were undertaken to meet with operational personnel, discuss what they were doing and determine what particular operational issues they had encountered while tackling tree root blockages.

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The Dru Point wastewater lagoons are located at Margate in the Municipal of Kingborough, Tasmania.

Kingborough is located south of Hobart with Margate situated as a satellite township around 10 km below the main Civic Centre of Kingborough.

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North East Water (N.E.W.) commenced dosing fluorosilicic acid into the Wangaratta and Wodonga town water supplies, in August 2007. The SPADNS colour metric method (0.02 to 2.00 mg/L F-) was initially selected to validate mass balance calculations for dosing fluorosilicic acid. Inconsistent laboratory results for the SPADNS test method occurred at the Wangaratta Treatment Plant, however not at the Wodonga Treatment Plant. The inconsistencies were investigated with temperature and water matrix interference being the likely causes. NEW has since purchased Ion Selective Electrode test equipment that has generated accurate results for Wangaratta treatment plant.

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Government Skills Australia (GSA) has wasted no time in responding to issues raised by the water industry about changes needed to the Water Training Package. The updated Water Training Package NWP07 was endorsed at the end of 2007 and is now available for delivery. Registered Training Organisations can now apply to change their scope from NWP01 to allow delivery of the new qualifications. The review was a long and complicated project and there were many frustrations in its progress.

Fortunately, we may not have to go through that again, because all Training Packages are now reviewed through a process of continuous improvement, which means that gradual changes can be made on a regular basis, according to issues identified by industry through networks of advisers and through the issues register on the Government Skills Australia website.

Government Skills Australia has been established to develop and maintain the Water Training Package and it will have responsibility, through the Water Industry Advisory Committee, to manage the continuous improvement process. This has already begun with several projects to develop new competencies and resource material. These projects include:

1. Re-development of the Certificate IV to provide more technical competencies.
2. Development of a Certificate II in Essential Services Operations for remote and indigenous communities
3. Re-development of the Certificate III competencies for dam safety and inspection.

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With increasing volumes of blocked House Connection Branches (HCB’s), Yarra Valley Water (YVW) invested two specially fitted out, light commercial vans with the latest high pressure pipe clearing equipment designed to clear blocked HCB’s and remote camera equipment (close circuit television – CCTV) to record pre and post clearance results.

The purchase of the vans or Sewer Response Units (SRU’s) followed a four week trial aimed to provide an alternative to the existing clearance methods used and reduce costs in emergency clearances and repeat blockages. The results of the trial indicated up to 85% of the emergency HCB rehabilitations (dig outs) could be avoided resulting in significant cost savings to YVW and customer service improvements.

Since their inception in September 2007, the SRU’s have attended 231 jobs of which emergency rehabilitation of the HCB was able to be avoided in 72% of cases.

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As part of their 2050 Water Plan, central Victorian water authority Coliban Water during the autumn of 2006, embarked on an ambitious $55 Ml capital project to further treat class B wastewater from its Bendigo Water Reclamation Plant. Regional stage 4 potable water restrictions combined with falling bulk water storage reserves, combined as the drivers to bring forward this ambitious and timely capital project.

The production of class A+ recycled wastewater from the “Recycled Water Factory”(RWF) has been designed to effectively substitute up to 5000 ML initially and ultimately up to 10,000 ML annually of potable and rural water demands from irrigation, restricted domestic and industrial uses across the immediate Bendigo region.

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After attending the Water Quality in the Distribution System workshop, a number of Riverina Water staff got together and started to look at ways to go about raising the standard of the water quality which was being delivered to our newly connected customers.

Up to this point of time within the field staff area of responsibilities it was always considered the Water Filtration Plant Operators duties to ensure that water leaving the treatment plants met the Water Quality Guidelines. The distribution staff duties was to connect mains and services with minimum disruptions to existing customers, fix breaks, give the mains a flush and get the water back to the consumer as quickly as possible. If it was a bit dirty, tell the customer to give us a call in a day or so and we will come and flush the area again. No water quality or health related issues were ever mentioned.

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Filter media and the filter underdrain system at the Pyramid Hill Water Treatment Plant (WTP) were refurbished following a sudden increase in filtered water turbidity, which resulted in deterioration of treated water quality and output.

A new charge of media comprising 400 mm filter coal and 300 mm sand was installed to replace the original mono-media as well as new air scour laterals and pipework with nozzles to replace the original pipe-lateral arrangement. Results indicate that substantial increase of filter throughput and filter run time and decreased filtered water turbidity have been achieved. The marked improvement has demonstrated how conversion of filters from mono- to dual-media configuration can dramatically improve overall WTP performance.

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Accessing the knowledge hidden in vast quantities of raw data collected from Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems over the years has been difficult. Goulburn Valley Water set out to rectify this situation by installing an appropriate system to store data and provide tools to assist interpretation.

Goulburn Valley Water implemented “Ampla” after an extensive investigation and successful pilot.

The nature of the system allows users to obtain and manipulate historical data, applying their knowledge and experience to turn data into useful information. This presents both operators and management with a new view of their operational assets. It provides greater insight allowing action to be taken to improve the Corporation’s operational effectiveness.

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Sludge lagoons and conventional sludge drying pans represent a widely used, low cost and effective method of processing sewage sludge. However, the paucity of both design and operating criteria for these processes can, in some circumstances, lead to unexpected performance difficulties. Greenhouse gas emissions are also a concern.

South East Water uses these processes to manage sludge at their plants located in the semi-rural fringe areas of Melbourne. A 5 year study has been undertaken to establish criteria necessary for improved performance of both sludge lagoon and drying pan processes. This information is being used to improve sludge management in the company.

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CAMS targeted sewer blockage reduction strategy saw blockage rates in Bendigo reduce from around 135 blockages per 100km to 84 blockages per 100km. After seeing a 19% drop in the first year, the blockage rate plateaued, falling short of modelled expectations. Following an analysis of completed maintenance schedules, it became apparent that to effectively implement the strategy, the sewer maintenance crews required assistance to help identify the locations of the targeted sites and to record details of their findings and actions. This led to CAMS developing and implementing a computer based work management system, designed specifically to meet the needs of the sewer maintenance crews. The system integrated the sewer blockage model, with job dispatch, data collection and GIS whilst utilizing the Next G telephone network allowing data to be exchanged on a daily basis. This solution along with training and development of staff and the commencement of Coliban Water’s sewer relining program delivered the further 22% reduction seen to date.

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Water storages have reached record low levels across the Ballarat region in summer 2007/2008, dropping below 10% in White Swan Reservoir. Resultant and unprecedented algal growth presented reservoir management and treatment challenges. Various powdered activation carbon varieties and doses were also trailed and achieved reasonable success at lowering filtered water 2-Methylisoborneol (MIB) and geosmin levels produced by the algae. Jar testing was successfully used to forecast that no significant changes in chemical dosing were required in moving to the bottom reservoir offtake.

The Goldfields Superpipe has begun to augment Ballarat water supply as of late May 2008 as a drought-response measure. Jar testing again proved invaluable in assessing the treatment capacity and any changes required due to this complex new water source. Initial results show, the water appears treatable within the capacity of the existing White Swan Treatment Plant.

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