The paper covers some of the experiences encountered in visiting and discussing many of the problems associated with the controlled release and intake of air into pipelines to maximise their performance. It appeared that there was generally a poor understanding of how critical the product was to the safety and reliability of the pipeline.

Today in all industries involved within water transfer, the issue of reduced pipeline failure and increasing performance is high on all agendas. This paper will best describe some of the roles that the air release valve plays in various pipelines, and how it can be safely and effectively used in order to achieve greater results.

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This paper describes potential sources of protozoan pathogens within a water supply catchment. The need to understand catchment characteristics through both sanitary surveys and a catchment monitoring program is highlighted. The design of a protozoan monitoring program for source water and also waters discharging and impacting on sourcewaters is discussed and recommendations are made. Currently available methods for analysis of waters for both Giardia and Cryptosporidium are compared and the merits and disadvantages of each detailed. Means of assessing treatment processes for their effectiveness in removing these pathogens are also discussed; including the use of surrogates as challenges to treatment and the role of particle counting in assessing plant performance.

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An effluent irrigated, short rotation coppice trial was established at the Goulburn Valley Region Water Authority (GVRWA) Shepparton Wastewater Treatment Complex in 1993, by the Centre for Forest Tree Technology and GVRWA. At age 4 years, growth rates and biomass production in this trial are amongst the highest reported in Australia. Sequestration of nutrients applied in effluent requires that trees be managed in relatively short rotations. This study has generated widespread interest among the scientific and wider community, and has provided a basis for detailed scientific studies of tree growth, tree water use, nutrient uptake, and nutrient leaching and denitrification in the soil.

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With Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) becoming a high priority in the work place, Gippsland Water’s regional OH&S committees and work groups have been striving to change work practices and conditions to create a safer and healthier work place environment. To this end inefficiencies were recognised with the Chlorination system at the Warragul Water Treatment Plant.

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As part of the determination of a strategy for the upgrade of Shepparton Wastewater Treatment Complex, Goulburn Valley Water have undertaken a Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) trial on secondary effluent from the plant. The trial aimed to determine the suitability of the DAF process as a tertiary treatment method for reduction of phosphorus to levels acceptable for future discharge to the Goulburn River. The trial was conducted between December 1997 and June 1998. This paper presents the major operational problems encountered through the duration of the DAF trial, and some of the main results.

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Training reform of recent years has enabled industries and enterprises to develop training programs not only suited in competencies and outcomes, but also in structure, design and delivery. The Victorian Rural Water Industry has been a pioneer in competency based workplace training. This paper outlines the development and implementation of the Water Resources Management Program (WRMP) – a competency based on-the-job training program, for a geographically dispersed workforce with minimum levels of secondary education.

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South Gippsland Water activated its Emergency Response Plan on Friday 6th February 1998 as a precautionary measure due to possibly high algal toxins in the Lance Creek Reservoir which supplies the townships of Cape Patterson, Inverloch and Wonthaggi covering a population of approximately 12,000. The Water was given the “all clear” on the following Wednesday afternoon the 11th of February and had in fact been found suitable for drinking at all times.

The Authority set up emergency water supply centres at three locations and adopted an extensive communications program to advise special needs customers, other consumers, government agencies and the general community of the situation. The Authority’s response to the situation worked well and the need for proper Emergency Response planning has been highlighted and the need for consideration of the finer detail in Emergency Response planning is also noted.

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Australian newsprint mills have been operating since 1981. They have experienced odour problems since the very beginning. Changes in the last 5 years to mill operations have lead to the EPA serving a notice of complaint from local residents in the surrounding area. In consultation with Bill Gunning from NLK – Canada, ANM has put the following odour management plan into progress.

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Edenhope in Western Victoria draws its water supply from Lake Wallace – a natural shallow eutrophic lake. The supply has historically suffered from severe blue-green algal blooms over extended periods. Blooms have involved both Microcystic and Anabaena species.

Raw water dissolved organic carbon (DOC) levels are also very high – typically above 20 mg/L. A new advanced water treatment plant has been constructed to provide a reliable and safe treated water supply even under difficult raw water conditions. The plant utilises the ozone/biological activated carbon (BAC) process for the first time at a significant level in Australia.

This paper describes the raw water quality issues associated with Lake Wallace and details the basis of process selection and the design criteria for the treatment plant. Initial operating results are provided.

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A procedure for predicting the minimum powdered activated carbon (PAC) dose to remove the earthy-musty taste and odour compounds 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) and geosmin from the inlet waters to four Adelaide metropolitan water treatment plants (WTP’s) was successfully tested.

The equilibrium capacity and kinetics of MIB and geosmin removal was determined for the inlet water of four WTP’s with one PAC. These results were used with the Homogeneous Surface Diffusion Model (HSDM) to predict MIB and geosmin removal in batch kinetic tests. Based on HSDM predictions PAC dose tables were constructed for each water. These tables allow the WTP operator to determine the minimum PAC dose required to reduce the influent concentration of MIB and geosmin to a desired effluent concentration that will not cause any taste and odour problems. Laboratory jar tests showed the PAC dose tables to be accurate, however increases in raw water turbidity were found to reduce the accuracy of the predictions.

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Goulburn Valley Water wish to upgrade the Mooroopna WWTP to improve the final effluent quality and to reduce odours from 39 Ha of anaerobic lagoons. The use of a high rate anaerobic lagoon is seen as a potential method of controlling odour from the Mooroopna works. It will reduce the anaerobic lagoon area from 39 to 2 Ha, thus enabling point source odour control by means of pond covers. High rate ponds will also reduce the anaerobic process volume from 950 to 70 ML, releasing approximately 880 ML of existing anaerobic lagoons for other purposes, such as effluent storage. It may also form the first stage of future treatment units, such as the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) or Pond Enhanced Treatment and Operation (PETRO) process, for the removal of final effluent algae.

This paper discusses high rate anaerobic systems and presents the results of a pilot trial at Mooroopna to assess the anaerobic biodegradability of the wastewater.

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Gippsland Water has carried out a pilot scheme with Australian Water Technologies to provide training to systems operators in using computerised models of their water supply systems. Operators are under increasing pressure to manage their systems in a cost-effective manner, and computerised models are effective tools to achieve this outcome.

The Gippsland operators found that using quality operational models enabled them to pick out system problems caused by incorrect asset records and changed or unrecorded operations. The operators were also able to investigate other less obvious system problems such as water loss, water quality, high velocities and water flow reversals. The pilot study was successful and demonstrated that operators can use quality operational models for managing their system.

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The Riverland Water Treatment Project in South Australia consists of ten new water treatment plants worth $115 million. The plants are being constructed and operated by Riverland Water, a joint venture company owned by United Utilities Australia (trading as North West Water), AMP and Bechtel, as a Build – Own – Operate – Transfer (BOOT) project.

The plants vary in size from 4 to 90 ML/d and are designed to treat Murray water of turbidity up to 410 NTU and colour up to 120 HU. When completed in 1999, they will supply filtered water to over 100,000 people along the River Murray and in the Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Lower North and Yorke Peninsula. Unit processes include rapid mixing, flocculation, clarification by tube settlers, dual media rapid gravity filtration, fluoridation and disinfection with monochloramine (4 plants) or chlorine (6 plants). The plants contain an innovative design feature for taste and odour control using powdered activated carbon dosing into contact tanks at the head of the plant. They are also believed to be the first plants in Australia using “sludge suckers” for sludge removal.

This paper describes aspects of the commissioning and operation of the Riverland Water Treatment Project and shares experience gained from rapid successive commissioning of a number of plants.

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North East Region Water Authority, was formed in July 1997 by the amalgamation of the former Kiewa Murray and Ovens Region water authorities. In the turmoil of restructure, relocation and integration of systems and policies etc. Mother Nature added to the confusion by providing serious drought conditions throughout North East Victoria. This paper will example the drought response management experiences and outline the system of restrictions applied to extend dwindling supplies.

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Goulburn Valley Water is the authority responsible for servicing the water and sewerage treatment needs of 48 townships in the north eastern region of the state. This requires the operation and maintenance of some assets which are in remote locations and require daily surveillance due to lack of automation.

Managing the operations and maintenance of a typical Water Supply System is not an easy task considering the constraints of public accountability, water industry regulations and environmental issues to name a few. The advancement in computer technology and telemetry systems has enabled the supervisory, control, and data acquisition (SCADA) process to be used as a powerful tool for water industry operation and management.

Telemetry systems have traditionally been used to provide a ‘control connection’ between remote locations, provide access and control to such locations, and to provide various levels of automation. This paper discusses the justification, development and implementation of a SCADA telemetry system for Goulburn Valley Water.

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The Hunter Water Corporation provides water and sewerage services to approximately 420,000 people in the Newcastle area (which is 2 hours drive north of Sydney). The Corporation operates twenty-one (21) wastewater treatment works (WWTW) which treat sewage from residential, commercial and industrial customers. These works range in size from small local plants treating sewage from a few hundred households to large automatic plants capable of processing sewage for over 200,00 people.

One of the Corporation’s works is Farley WWTW which receives high pH waste from a large textile company in the sewer catchment. Over the past fifteen (15) years this discharge waste has caused a number of process problems which have been minimised through actions taken by the operational staff at the treatment works. This paper describes the problems that have occurred at the plant, the effects on the process and action taken to maintain good effluent quality.

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