A leading retail water corporation is investing over AUD $50 million in sewer infrastructure improvements in the north of Melbourne, Australia.
A critical part of these improvements is to the area’s Sewage Transfer Hub, that acts as a large storage facility built to capture and store the water flows that they experience in wet weather, and which can subsequently be released into the sewage system to avoid potential flooding and accidental effluent discharge into the water course.
The installation of two new PERMASTORE® anaerobic sludge digesters forms a key part of a AUD $26 million investment programme designed to increase treatment capacity, improve operational efficiency and support the region’s long-term environmental objectives.
The transfer hub will service the planned developments for a major conurbation area in the city’s Northern Growth Corridor. The area’s current development plan being predicted to provide 100,000 new properties and accommodate a community of around 300,000 people when finally developed.
The Sewage Transfer Hub is considered to be the largest sewage storage facility in Australia, is being constructed in distinct phases to bring the plant in operationally as soon as possible whilst also being developed to support the needs of the area’s development plan. The first phase consisted of two 15 million litre storage tanks that was successfully completed in 2019. The latest phase has also now been completed, with a further development option available for the future.
Overall, the transfer hub investment has enabled the sewage infrastructure to be expanded as housing demand increases and is seen as an innovative cost-effective alternative to building a large sewer in the area at twice the cost.
So, where do Glass-Fused-to-Steel tanks fit in?
With the ever-changing nature of weather patterns leading to the increased potential of flooding, stormwater management has a crucial function in controlling the runoff of rainwater to prevent the overrunning of drainage and sewage systems and causing flooding, erosion, and contamination of water bodies.
Uncontrolled stormwater runoff also poses significant environmental risks. As it flows across impervious surfaces, stormwater picks up pollutants, including oil, grease, heavy metals, fertilizers, pesticides, and bacteria. This contaminated runoff enters the watercourse, causing water pollution and endangering environment. All this can lead to localised flooding and overwhelmed storm and sanitary sewer systems. As a result, stormwater management and its subsequent infrastructure investment is important to control the volume and velocity of runoff, reducing flood risks and protecting our urban communities.
As a result, any containment and storage of stormwater requires an engineered solution due to the volumes and its contents, PERMASTORE® high-quality Fusion® Glass-Fused-to-Steel (GFtS) coated bolted tanks were chosen for the project. The tanks specified and installed were subsequently designed to transfer flows downstream and store flows temporarily when there is insufficient capacity in the network.
The engineering design expertise along with the durability and resilience of Permastore’s TRIFUSION® glass coating is designed to deliver a long operational life span.
Project Achievements
- High performance Glass-Fused-to-Steel quality & engineering design affording a long service life including 50m diameter Geodesic Roofs
- Distributor required onsite support during build phase – critical to ensure ‘best in class’ delivery
- Low maintenance requirement throughout a tank’s service life.
- A modular bolted solution that achieves fast installation – reduced build time and cost.
To date the project has included four PERMASTORE® tanks over two phases (4×15,000m3) marketed and installed by partners Reliant Solutions, New Zealand (Phase 1), and Kingspan Water & Energy, Australia (Phase 2), in a record time to the satisfaction of Yarra Valley Water.
By choosing Permastore Glass-Fused-to-Steel bolted tanks, Yara Valley Water has selected a solution that offers engineered designed resilience and a long service life that is aimed at improving capacity and reduce the likelihood of sewage spills into the watercourse during heavy rains.
Key project success enabled by Permastore tanks include:
- Reduce the likelihood of spills into waterways during large storms
- Improve the efficiency of the network
- Accommodate for population growth
