Australian Water Management Review Vol 1 2010 | Page 36

Black & Veatch In early 2006, Black & Veatch and their consultancy partners were appointed by the Queensland Government to carry out preliminary design for the overall Western Corridor Recycled Water Project (WCRWP), which comprised three Advanced Water Treatment (AWT) Plants, as well as the distribution network and major pumping stations. Review of the existing business case confirmed the viability of the project; but crucially the team came up with an optimised treatment strategy, which resulted in significant project savings. In this design, treated water either could be used locally in areas around each of the AWT Plants or at potential sites along the length of each transfer pipeline, or it could be readily combined at Bundamba for transfer along the Western Corridor. This transfer offered a range of uses, including power station cooling, irrigation or industrial applications, or to storage at Lake Wivenhoe for indirect potable reuse. Due to the importance of the WCRWP to the people of Queensland and the desire to ensure that the project was started as early as possible, the joint venture of Black & Veatch/Thiess Construction and Western Corridor Recycled Water Pty Ltd, or the Bundamba Alliance, was made responsible for designing and constructing the 66ML/d Bundamba AWT Plant in June 2006. The alliance worked in partnership with the Queensland Government’s Department of Infrastructure and Planning to deliver the project. The contract to design and construct Bundamba Stage 1A was awarded with a completion date of 3rd Quarter 2007. In order to meet this date, the project team had to focus on how to build the plant in a very short period. The basic treatment process and major operating parameters had already been established during Water Management Review 2010 the preliminary design stage. However, major equipment had to be selected not only on lowest capital and operating cost but also on ease of construction and effect on civil works. With these criteria in mind, the project team selected equipment that would minimise excavation and shorten construction time as well as maximising off site erection and testing. This resulted in the selection of encased skid-mounted pre-treatment and RO membranes and in-pipe UV equipment. Major tankage was designed to be entirely above ground to maximise pre-casting. A key challenge for the Bundamba AWTP was how to treat a blended flow from four wastewater treatment plants, each with a different treatment process and configurations and different effluent qualities. The main treatment steps of ultrafiltration membranes, reverse osmosis (RO) membranes followed by advanced oxidation using UV irradiation and hydrogen peroxide together represented the gold standard for water reclamation. This was the first full-scale facility designed to meet such stringent nitrogen, disinfection and emerging contaminant quality parameters and also the first large-scale application of 18” diameter RO membranes. Large diameter membranes were chosen for their lower capital cost; fewer membranes are required for the same throughput resulting in less maintenance and a lower plant footprint. Advanced oxidation was added as a treatment step to ensure that the purified recycled water met the required guidelines for water recycled to a drinking water source. Purified recycled water will be added to Wivenhoe Dam should levels in the dam fall below a certain threshold. As well as having a team based on the project site, Black & Veatch through its concept of the Integrated Global Workforce was able to carry out design work in China, India, Singapore, UK and US, bringing the benefit of global solutions to a local problem. Progress was faster than many thought possible. Stage 1A was officially opened in early in September 2007 after ground breaking was carried out only in November 2006. Working closely with partner Thiess, Black & Veatch led the start up effort and detailed testing and commissioning plans were developed. Quality was maintained and safe working procedures were strictly adhered to with over 1.7 million hours worked without Lost Time Injury. In 2008 and 2009, the Bundamba AWTP received numerous national and international accolades from the global engineering community. These included Water Project of the Year at the 2008 Global Water Awards, International Project of the Year by the Construction Management Association of America, Global Honour award for Design Category at the 2008 International Water Association (IWA) Project Innovation Awards, and winner of the Environmental Engineering Award at the 2008 Engineer’s Australian Engineering Excellence Awards. In November 2009 the plant was named as one of the top ten engineering wonders in Queensland. Contact Black & Veatch at: Brisbane: [phone] Melbourne: [phone] Perth: [phone] Sydney: [phone] [email protected] www.bv.com