2007 – 32nd Annual Queensland Water Industry Operations Workshop
17 to 19 April, 2007 Walter Pierce Pavilion, Showgrounds – Rockhampton
Supported by: Fitzroy River Water, Water Industry Training Association, Queensland & Department of Natural Resources & Water
Papers are listed in the order of the Workshop program
THE CHANGING ROLE OF OPERATIONS STAFF IN DESIGN OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS Peter Griffiths – CH2M HILL
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In addition to the formal processes being adopted, there is also an enormous collective experience held by operations staff. Operational staff have continuous exposure to performance and reliability of systems. This exposure and experience is usually not available to designers and many suppliers.
Examples are presented of beneficial operational input to the above processes. Further opportunities for operational input to the design process are then identified including process design, control and plant layout.
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AN OCCASIONAL PAPER ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WATER INDUSTRY TRAINING IN QUEENSLAND Don Mackay – Skills Tech Australia
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COATINGS IN THE WATER INDUSTRY Nick Subotsch – Peerless Industrial Systems
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Coatings are used to assist in the retention of water quality, or protect the assets designed to handle the water. These are often packaged into a single box and assessed on price, degree of preparation required before coating, or their ease of application. Appreciation of use on the common substrates of steel and concrete in relation to potable and waste water is a basic necessity.
This paper reviews a small area of the current standards relating to the water industry and applies them to coating selection. It is principally about retention of water quality and reviewing realistic selection criteria.
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MOBILE BORE TESTING CHLORINATION AND BOOSTER PLANT Marcus Boyd – Toowoomba City Council
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An innovative and unique mobile system was developed to overcome this problem, by means of recovering bore pumping test water, chlorinating the recovered water and injecting it into the City’s water supply system in accordance with strict HACCP systems. This adaptable, cost effective, yet simple system demonstrates a tangible response to the need for water conservation, particularly in drought conditions.
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CHALLENGES OF RUNNING HAMILTON ISLAND WATER TREATMENT David Dickson – Hamilton Island Engineering & Services
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The Island has a number of freshwater collection and storage dams but their capacity is not sufficient to supply water year round. These storages are also susceptible to blue-green algal outbreaks and relatively high Electrical Conductivity (EC) due to evaporation and sea water ingress. The Hamilton Island resort operates a DAFF water treatment plant and a Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant to treat sea water, as a back up during times of limited fresh water availability or when water quality issues require an alternative supply. Unfortunately, the RO plant is expensive to operate and its use must be minimised. Disinfection in the form of Chlorine gas and Ozonation is employed.
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EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF DIFFERENT POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBONS (PAC) FOR TASTE AND ODOUR REDUCTION Peta Thiel – Research Laboratory Services
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The Acticarb PS1300 was the only carbon with a higher iodine number, however this increase in adsorptive capacity for iodine was not proportional to the increase in adsorption for MIB and geosmin. For all of the PACs tested, the geosmin was more easily reduced than the MIB. Contact time, raw water character and PAC character all influenced the PAC’s ability to reduce MIB and geosmin.
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OPERATIONAL ISSUES AND REMEDIES IN THE ANAEROBIC SLUDGE DIGESTION PROCESS Matthew Gore – BioRemedy
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Managers of the anaerobic digestion process units, which require significant capital investment to establish within a treatment facility, attempt to maximize the treatment capacity to the limits of design capabilities, often to the detriment of the biological process that drives the organic degradation.
Inadequate/deficient heating, operation outside favourable biologically viable conditions, re-commissioning following asset maintenance activity, poor sludge drying characteristics and poor and/or inconsistent gas production from process units are all design inadequacies or indicators of poor process unit performance.
Operational issues experienced in anaerobic sludge digestion are varied, with specific remedies often a combination of system optimisation and specialist product addition, with each application scenario requiring a concerted investigation prior to solution application.
The optimisation of established anaerobic sludge digestion process units is achievable, through the application of appropriate strategies designed to ensure both operational and managerial considerations are adequately addressed.
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INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR PHOSPHATE REMOVAL FROM DEWATERED SLUDGE SUPERNATANT Peter Reberger – EGL Management Services
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EGL operate the Redcliffe City Council WWTP, and use hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2) to treat phosphate via an existing lime slurry system. EGL have been looking at alternatives to the use of lime as it represents an OH&S hazard and the dosing process had become operationally inefficient and costly to maintain.
This paper reports on the work that Virotec Global Solutions have undertaken with EGL to develop a formulation to treat phosphates, achieving a removal rate of 99.84% (from 500 mg/L to 0.8 mg/L).
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CONVERSION OF A CONTINUOUS ACTIVATED SLUDGE PLANT TO A DECANT PLANT DURING SECONDARY SEDIMENTATION TANK MAINTENANCE Kym Kneebone – Bundaberg City Council
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The paper provides an operations view of how the conversion takes place and the impacts on the combined plant. The programmed decant sequence was developed by Bundaberg City Council operational and trade services staff. The decant sequence along with plant operational results during the conversion explains the plant operations and its performance.
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CYCLONIC THERMAL DRYING OF BIOSOLIDS William Smith – Logan City Council
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The Cyclonic Thermal Dryer works the same way as a cyclone does in the way that it picks up the biosolids and the air flows around the biosolids at a rate of 300km/h+ which helps dry the biosolids. The main drying process is the T.P.C.(Tempest Product Conditioner) which heat up to 120 Celsius. Most of the bacteria are killed by collision and cell rupture. The dryer can take the end product from the belt press at 14 to 16% solids and mix it with a dried product to bring it up to 30% then put it though the Cyclonic Thermal Dryer. The end product out of the dryer will have 60 to 90%+ of the moisture content removed. The Cyclonic Thermal Dryer gives us quality control of the end product by varying mix rates and temperatures. Biosolids dried in this process are likely to be more successful as a soil conditioner for agricultural and landscaping applications because of the nature of the final product. The Cyclonic Thermal Dryer is portable, compact and fast. It can be moved into areas that do not have power as it runs on diesel fuel.
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GOULBURN MULWAREE COUNCIL – EFFLUENT IRRIGATION SCHEME MEDIUM PRESSURE UV DISINFECTION Pieter Groenewegen – Contra Shear Technology
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Contra Shear Technology (CST) has recently been awarded the UV Disinfection equipment supply contract for the Goulburn Irrigation scheme. The contract was awarded to Ted Wilson and Sons Ltd (TWS) who submitted an innovative design that will operate as a pressurised on demand irrigation scheme simplifying infrastructure and provided the council with a more economic contract as well as significant savings in long term operating cost.
The UV Disinfection equipment selected was the Berson InLine Medium Pressure Lamp technology that is to be fully integrated into the overall PLC/SCADA process control system.
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BENEFICIAL USE OF BIOSOLIDS Keith Nicolle – Bundaberg City Council & Graham Campbell – Camreay Holdings
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WATER FLUORIDATION IN AUSTRALIA – SOMETHING TO GET YOUR TEETH INTO Stephen Diprose – Incitec Pivot
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Water Fluoridation was introduced in Australia, in Beaconsfield, Tasmania in 1953, and currently Australia has over 60 water treatment plants fluoridating, with a further 20 or so in the planning stages. In Queensland, no large scale fluoridation occurs, with the exception of Townsville, and for thirty years Brisbane has been the only capital city to forgo this public health initiative.
While water shortage issues continue to plague most states including Queensland, in 2006 the state government set aside $6m to fund Water Fluoridation infrastructure, and set a time frame of 5 years for implementation at major population centres. This paper outlines the three products permitted to be used for water fluoridation in Australia, the unique characteristics of each, and from an operator perspective, the three products are analysed from the perspectives of safety and ease of use.
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OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE IN MAINLAND QUEENSLAND INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES John Carleton – Queensland Department of Local Government
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Recognising that improving a community’s general health and wellbeing can result from effective operations and maintenance of environmental health infrastructure, the Queensland Government established the Operations and Maintenance (Mainland) Program (O&M Program) specifically for water supply, sewerage and waste management systems.
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THE ALLIANCE PROCESS – AN OPERATORS PERSPECTIVE John Paulger – Toowoomba City Council
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HACCP FOR WATER OPERATIONS – AN OPERATORS EXPERIENCE Graham McKeon – Toowoomba City Council
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