Issue: August 2021
A mid year snapshot of TRILITY’s contracts and projectsnews
Mid-year snapshot
Ensuring availability
of services for remote
Northern Peninsula Area
(NPA) communities
Page 9
Remote community
emergency response
Page 10
You’ve been SURV’d
Page 13
TRILITY news
Newsletter for TRILITY Group and Joint Venture clients
In this Issue
Meeting future chlorination
demands, whilst maximising
operator safety
Page 4
Working with Councils to
provide recycled water to
regional recreational spaces
Page 5
Emergency reinstatement
of essential services to
Rotorua residents
Page 6
Reducing sludge handling
costs
Page 8
Our approach
Page 14
Water from a small regional
town in Tasmania, which was
once deemed unsafe
for consumption, is now the
best tasting in the world
Page 15
TRILITY news
Newsletter for TRILITY Group and Joint Venture clients
Welcome
Dear valued clients and partners,
As Nations, Australia, and New Zealand continue to manage the
pandemic well compared to other parts of the world, and we continue
our collective efforts to care for each other and learn and adapt. More
than ever, it is crucial that we reflect on the many positive learnings that
continue to come from the pandemic experiences so that we can
collectively continue to make our world a better place for everyone.
The TRILITY Group is very aware that our continued success is based on
strong, highly valued relationships developed over many years. We would
most certainly not be where we are today without you, which is why we
thought it fitting to share some of the great work achieved so far this
year. In this edition of TRILITY eNews, we highlight some of the projects
and essential services that our dedicated employees have delivered over
the past six months.
As a company, we continue to respond rapidly to the many challenges we
face, which is only possible due to our employees’ dedication and you, our
clients, and partners
While we collectively continue to face challenges, we look to the second
half of 2021 with optimism.
From the entire TRILITY team, it’s a privilege to work with you in
providing essential services to the communities we serve.
Francois Gouws
Managing Director
Francois Gouws
Managing Director
TRILITY Brands
TRILITYnews
Newsletter for TRILITY Group and Joint Venture clients
Meeting future chlorination demands, whilst
maximising operator safety
Allanooka is a gas chlorination plant that disinfects the groundwater from a borefield suppling Geraldton. Considered a major regional city, Geraldton
is approximately 300km north of Perth with a population of 38,000.
The client, the Water Corporation, wanted to modify the existing chlorination system to ensure that future chlorination requirements will be met. TRILITY was
contracted to design, supply, install and commission the chlorine system. The scope included new duty/standby reservoir inlet and outlet flow-paced chlorine
dosing, chlorine residual monitoring and outlet flow monitoring. Additional SCADA and electrical works allowed for an on-site generator to be connected to the
chlorination module such that the chlorination plant automatically switches over to generator power in the event of a power failure. Once power is restored, it
automatically switches back to mains power. All of this occurs without the need of an operator to attend site.
To meet the client’s stringent safety requirements withdrawable injection quills were installed which significantly improve operator safety when injecting
chemicals. The quill is designed so that it cannot be accidentally withdrawn or ejected. It is mechanically impossible for the quill to pass through the seal
chamber and therefore cannot become a projectile. In addition, chemical barrier solutions were installed at the new chlorine dosing points to protect operators
from the risks of chemical exposure.
To ensure a smooth handover of the plant to the Water Corporation’s operations team, TRILITY provided training for the plant operators which included the
provision of all operations and maintenance manuals.
The site works included civil and structural works which were undertaken during COVID-19 restrictions, severely limiting the number of people that could be
involved on-site. In fact, the whole project was successfully managed remotely without the client’s project manager ever stepping foot on-site.
The Allanooka gas chlorination plant reconfiguration has ensured that future chlorination requirements, whilst enhancing operator safety.
For more information please contact Vic Vucemillo, Business Development Vic.Vucemillo@trility.com.au or Alex Lavery, Business Development
Alex.Lavery@trility.com.au
Allanooka chlorinator reconfiguration
Allanooka chlorinators
Allanooka HQ3 quill and chemical barrier protection
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TRILITY news
Newsletter for TRILITY Group and Joint Venture clients
Working with Councils to provide recycled water to
regional recreational spaces
Unlike many inner or metropolitan council areas, residents of some rural and
regional locations cannot assume that they are connected to an externally
managed sewer system. Many factors contribute towards this, including
low-density living, the age of many dwellings, and topography that is not
supportive of sewer networks.
On behalf of rural and regional Councils, TRILITY manages multiple
Community Wastewater Management Systems (CWMS), formerly known
as Septic Tank Effluent Disposal Scheme (STEDS). STED schemes were first
developed to overcome public health and amenity problems associated with
failing or inadequate septic tank soakage trenches. Because these schemes
offered an affordable alternative to sewerage, they have been retained,
developed, and maintained across some Councils in South Australia.
One of our more recently awarded contracts is the Adelaide Hills Council
Kersbrook Community Wastewater Management System (CWMS), where our
Lower Riverland Team operates and maintains the Kersbrook re-use pump
station. The Kersbrook CWMS is an essential wastewater disposal service
provided to around 1,800 households and businesses across the region.
Kersbrook oval tanks
Kersbrook oval
Kersbrook oval
The septic tank effluent from the Kersbrook township pump station is
pumped up the hill to primary treatment ponds. The STEDS water is
treated using basic oxidising lagoons to treat incoming wastewater through
design-enhanced biological processes. The re-use water then gravitates to
the local Soldiers Memorial Oval storage tanks, where
sodium hypochlorite is dosed. The treated water is then irrigated overnight
onto the oval with an irrigation controller run by the oval caretakers. The
images below highlight the significant contrast between the non-irrigated
surroundings and the oval. The oval is used by the local hills football teams
and the Adelaide-based Sturt SANFL club for games and training.
We pride ourselves on the expertise we bring to Councils to manage
the CWMS services we provide and the additional services in bringing
much-needed recycled water to their communities’ recreational facilities.
For more information please contact Tim Overland,
Commercial Manager Operations toverland@trility.com.au
For employees of the TRILITY Group and Joint Ventures
TRILITY link
Emergency reinstatement of essential services to
Rotorua residents
Just before Easter, our Rotorua team in conjunction with Rotorua Lakes
Council and network partner Fulton Hogan worked in collaboration to
reinstate vital services. Their work continued through and post-Easter to
remedy the consequences of a failed major gravity main that had affected
one of the 90 pump stations TRILITY operate and maintain across Rotorua.
The TRILITY team, Council and Fulton Hogan worked tirelessly to access
and undertake the works to reinstate the collapsed sewer main.
The Hona Road pump station pumps failed due to blocking because of the
collapse in the gravity main entering the station. The Tomo that was formed
approximately six metres upstream of the wet well was significant enough to
dump greater than 15 cubic metres of material such as pumice, rubble, house
bricks and bitumen as shown in the images below. The well level experienced
an instantaneous two metre rise due to the displacement of water caused by
the Tomo material. This material immediately incapacitated both the duty
and standby pumps rendering the pump station inoperable until the material
and the pump wet well risers were cleared of debris.
The situation was deemed a high priority emergency works; residents were
asked to minimize water use to assist with remediation. Reinstatement of
the pump station proved to be challenging; multiple specialist crews were
engaged to undertake work on the pump station. It required the mobilsation
of a significant amount of plant, people and other resources including trucks,
four large diesel pumps for pumping over the wet well, divers, fencing and
floodlights etc. on-site. The remediation works were conducted over several
attempts at night because this is when flows into the pump station were at
their lowest and sucker trucks could easily move through the roads to access
the disposal site to dump the recovered material.
Tim Overland, Commercial Manager Operations
toverland@trility.com.au
Main collapse of Tomo forming
Represenation of material removed from pump station wet well
Throughout the reinstatement an overflow of the pump station was
completely avoided, this was an excellent result given the proximity of the
pump station to Lake Rotorua.
The reinstatement was successful due to the combined efforts of all involved;
with the restoration of the pumps in the pump well and return to normal
operations being achieved within 11 days.
Removing manhole top
Pipe relined
For employees of the TRILITY Group and Joint Ventures
TRILITY link
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Diver preparation
Diver in the hole
Sucker trucks and well access
For employees of the TRILITY Group and Joint Ventures
TRILITY link
Reducing sludge handling costs
Rotorua Lakes Council engaged TRILITY to develop the design for the upgrade of the sludge dewatering building at the Rotorua wastewater treatment plant
(WWTP). Part of that design was a polymer dosing system, which was built in TRILITY’s Yatala workshop and shipped to New Zealand.
Since then, TRILITY has been awarded a 10-year operations contract for the Rotorua wastewater treatment plant and the new dewatering equipment
(including the polymer dosing system) will help the operations team achieve reduced sludge handling costs with less operator effort.
These works were initially part of a larger project to upgrade the WWTP. The larger upgrade is being reprogrammed to optimise the discharge and end user
requirements. The sludge dewatering and polymer dosing equipment were nearing the end of their life and resulting in a significant amount of operator effort to
ensure reliability justifying the fast-tracking of this portion of the larger project.
The new dewatering equipment has been sized to treat the sludge volumes produced in 25 years’ time at a higher dry solids content. This will assist the future
proofing of the WWTP as well as reducing sludge transportation costs. The TRILITY-built polymer system was sized for the ultimate sludge volumes and has
a significantly smaller footprint than the old system, which allowed the dry polymer handling system to be relocated from a transportable building into the
dewatering building.
These works are now entering the commissioning phase and will be completed by September 2021.
TRILITY and the Rotorua Lakes Council have worked together to deliver the upgrade of the dewatering building as part of a larger goal to process the
community’s wastewater in a cost-effective and reliable manner.
For more information please contact Steve Jamieson, New Zealand Steve.Jamieson@trility.co.nz
Batching tank
Poly dosing system
Poly dosing skid
For employees of the TRILITY Group and Joint Ventures
TRILITY link
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Ensuring availability of services for remote Northern
Peninsula Area (NPA) communities
The Northern Peninsula Area Region is a local government area in Far North
Queensland, Australia, covering areas on the northwestern coast of Cape York
Peninsula. It was created in March 2008 out of three Aboriginal Shires and two
autonomous Island Councils during a period of statewide local government
reform. The area has a population of 2773 (NPARC Annual Report 2018-2019).
TRILITY operates and maintains the region’s water treatment facilities on
behalf of the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council (NPARC). The Jardine
River pump station and Bamaga Water Treatment Plant (WTP), including the
networks for each community, are among the assets we manage as part of our
contract with the Council. The Jardine pump station is located approximately
17km from the Bamaga WTP and is the single water supply for the surrounding
communities. The water from the Jardine River pump station is pumped to the
Bamaga WTP, where it is treated to Australian drinking water guidelines and
then distributed to the communities.
The pump station is fed from a single supply line electrical connection that
runs into town along the powerline track. Throughout the year, mainly during
the wet season, several factors will cause an interruption to this power supply;
these factors could be a tree fallen across the power lines, a lightning strike, or
a transformer failure. In addition, the remoteness of the pump station and the
inability to safely access it during the wet season can mean that the power
supply may be off for several days meaning that water cannot be pumped to
the Bamaga WTP. Therefore drinking water supply is at risk.
Tim Overland, Commercial Manager Operations
toverland@trility.com.au
Generator transported to the NPA, awaiting civil works to be
completed before it can be installed and tested
3000L MaxiBund fuel tank
Generator station
NPARC requested TRILITY to initiate a project to investigate a second
alternative power supply if the main power supply was to fail. The proposal
was successful, and the project is now complete. The project included; the
design and installation of a diesel-powered backup generator to supply power
to the Jardine pump station in the event of a power failure and ensure that the
pump station can continue to provide water to the local communities.
The generator system installed will automatically start in the event of a
power failure and can run for up to a week unattended. TRILITY worked in
partnership with NPARC on the project and engaged local contracts to
complete the installation works.
NPARC and the communities it serves can now be assured of their services
being supplied without interruption all year round by installing the
diesel-powered backup generator.
Generator station
10
TRILITYnews
Newsletter for TRILITY Group and Joint Venture clients
Remote community emergency response
There are very few people that can lay claim to their job being considered so important that they will be provided with a chartered plane and police escort to
attend a job.
This is exactly what happened for the WA Service team on Friday 16 July 2021.
Towards the end of 2020 a major organisation based in the Pilbara approached the WA Service team requesting support, should the need arise, for onsite gas
leaks. Like many organisations they suffered due to COVID-19 with border restrictions limiting fly in fly out staff, leaving them in a situation that made covering
these events very difficult.
At approximately 9 am Friday 16 July we received a call requesting assistance. There was a large chlorine gas leak at the remote Aboriginal Community of
Burringurrah in the Gascoyne region of WA. This call saw all available persons swing into action. A plan was very quickly developed, with a contingency plan in
place, should our first plan not be possible.
Our two options were, one, to drive the 10 or so hours to site, or two, to somehow arrange a flight. In consultation with our client, a charter flight was arranged.
This plane was to take our Service Technicians to site and wait on the airstrip, while a police escort transferred them, with all their equipment, to site. With the
plane returning them to Perth once the work had been completed.
While the plane was readied our two Service Technicians, were given the task of identifying all parts to cover every scenario that would be required to ensure
the site was left in a safe and operational manner. Ably assisted by our storeman, parts were packed and readied to be taken to the chartered plane.
At 1:30 pm the flight departed Jandakot airport, landing at about 3:30 pm, our Service Technicians were immediately onto the job. They were able to
successfully identify the source of the leak, rectify the situation and identify safety improvements that could be made onsite. They were back at the airstrip
and boarding the chartered flight by 6 pm.
Our Service Technicians landed and were on their way home by no later than 9 pm Friday night. We have since received feedback from the client, comment-
ing that, “the response time and level of service provided by the team was exceptional. The effort and flexibility of the team to drop everything, mobilise to a
remote area of WA and complete an emergency response inside of 12 hours, was nothing short of the high-quality service we have come to
expect from TRILITY.”
For more information please contact Steve Shakespeare, Service Manager Western Australia Steve.Shakespeare@trility.com.au
The chartered plane