The carbon footprint of sewer technology choices Flovac

The carbon footprint of sewer technology choices

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The carbon footprint of sewer technology choices — and why it matters more than most options studies suggest

June 2026  ·  Based on confirmed operational data from Fishermans Bay, South Australia  ·  6 min read

When engineers compare vacuum, gravity, and low pressure sewerage in an options assessment, the comparison is almost always financial. Capital cost. Annual operating cost. Thirty-year NPV. These are legitimate measures, but they capture only part of the picture. The carbon performance of each technology — across construction, materials, operation, and end of life — is rarely quantified, and on certain classes of site it differs by an order of magnitude.

Flovac has published a detailed carbon footprint comparison using confirmed data from the Fishermans Bay vacuum sewer system in South Australia, a 400-dwelling coastal community commissioned in 2022 and monitored continuously by the Flovac FMS platform. The findings are relevant to any engineer working on flat, low-lying, or high water table sites — which describes a significant proportion of Australian and New Zealand coastal and peri-urban development.

6.5×
More energy used by grinder pumps vs vacuum — same site, confirmed data
48,000
Grinder pump mechanisms over 50 years at 12,000-home Riverlea SA
14:1
Gravity pump stations avoided at Prestons Park NZ — confirmed by Aurecon

 

The energy comparison is stark — and mostly invisible

Vacuum energy consumption at Fishermans Bay is confirmed from SCADA data: 7,396 kWh per year for the entire 400-dwelling scheme. A low pressure grinder pump system for the same site would consume approximately 48,000 kWh per year — 6.5 times higher. But that energy does not appear in the utility’s electricity bill. It is distributed across 400 private accounts, each paying approximately $48 per year in additional energy costs to run their grinder pump. The carbon is real. It simply does not show up unless someone specifically looks for it.

Annual operational energy — 400 dwellings, Fishermans Bay SA

Vacuum: confirmed from SCADA run-hour data Jul 2025–Jun 2026. Gravity and grinder pump: modelled for equivalent site.

Construction carbon — the category nobody counts

On a flat coastal site like Fishermans Bay, gravity sewerage would require trench depths of 3 to 4 metres to achieve fall, with active groundwater dewatering for the full construction duration. The vacuum system was installed at 1.5 metre depth with no dewatering required — documented in the construction contract. Dewatering for a gravity single-station scheme on this site would consume an estimated 144,000 kWh during construction alone — nearly 20 times the vacuum system’s annual operational energy — generating approximately 39 tonnes of CO₂e before a single pipe is laid.

That construction carbon does not appear in any standard options assessment. It is treated as a contractor cost and excluded from the technology comparison entirely.

The wet weather multiplier gravity carries — and vacuum doesn’t

The SA CWMS Design Criteria (LGA SA / Dept Health and Wellbeing, 2019) requires gravity systems in coastal holiday communities to be designed for a hydraulic load 1.5 times the standard peaking factor applied to average daily flow — specifically to account for wet weather infiltration and inflow. Vacuum and low pressure systems are not subject to this multiplier.

This means gravity pipes, wet wells, and pump stations on sites like Fishermans Bay must be physically larger than actual sewage generation requires. That additional material — concrete, pipe, steel — carries embodied carbon that exists solely to accommodate water that should not be in the sewer system at all. And the treatment plant must be sized for a peak wet weather flow that may include groundwater and, on tidal sites, saline water — processed at the full energy and carbon cost of treatment.

The embodied carbon of grinder pump replacement

Grinder pump mechanisms require replacement approximately every 10 years — confirmed by major utilities including JEA in Jacksonville, Watercare in Auckland, and Victorian water corporations. Over a 50-year study life, a 400-dwelling LP scheme requires the manufacture and disposal of 2,000 pump mechanisms. A 12,000-dwelling development like Riverlea in South Australia — a flood plain site with standing water at 2 metres — would require 48,000 mechanisms over the same period. Vacuum collection chambers have a 50-year design life and are manufactured from recyclable polyethylene. There is no equivalent replacement cycle.

Component count over 50 years — low pressure vs vacuum, by project scale

LP: 10-year replacement cycle × 4 over 50 years. Vacuum pits: 50-year design life, installed once. 4 dwellings per pit.

How the numbers scale

“The 203-hectare Prestons development would have required approximately 14 traditional wastewater pump stations. The whole site can be serviced by one vacuum pump station. You also don’t have to dewater the ground to lay the pipes.” — Alistair Greig, Project Director, Aurecon (Infrastructure News NZ, November 2013)

Project Dwellings Vacuum pits LP mechanisms (50yr) Gravity stations avoided
Fishermans Bay SA 400 101 (once) 2,000 3 wet wells
Calypso Bay QLD 2,600 650 (once) 13,000 ~20 wet wells
Prestons Park NZ 2,200 500 (once) 11,000 14 (confirmed)
Riverlea SA 12,000 3,000 (once) 48,000 35–40 wet wells
50-year operational carbon by technology and project scale (indicative, tCO₂e)

Indicative extrapolation from Fishermans Bay SCADA data. SA grid emission factor 0.27 kg CO₂e/kWh (NGA 2024).

What this means for engineers

A standard options assessment that compares capital cost and annual operating cost is not wrong — it is incomplete. It excludes construction phase carbon, fails to count distributed LP energy, does not account for grinder pump replacement embodied carbon, treats the wet weather design load as a hydraulic constraint rather than a carbon variable, and excludes end-of-life recyclability. On flat, coastal, or high water table sites, correcting these omissions consistently strengthens the relative carbon position of vacuum sewerage.

The full carbon footprint comparison paper — including methodology, confirmed data from Fishermans Bay, and indicative figures for all four technologies across a 50-year study life — is available for download below.

  

Download the full technical paper — Carbon Footprint Comparison:
Vacuum, Gravity and Low Pressure Sewer Systems

DOWNLOAD THE PDF

Botswana Delegation Conducts Successful FAT Tour in Europe

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In June, a delegation of 10 representatives from Botswana travelled to Germany and The Netherlands to conduct a Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) for various components of the Vacuum Station.

The group included members from the Government of Botswana’s Department of Technical Services, Water Utilities Corporation, the consulting engineering firm Bothakga Burrow, the environmental consulting firm, and the construction company, Ossy & Classic Clean JV. Andrew Davies from Multi Waste (Flovac’s licensee in Botswana) and Wouter Harperink from Flovac Germany also joined the tour.

Group Picture in front of the Flovac Office

 

The trip began in the picturesque town of Herborn, Germany, with a visit to the Herborner Pumpenfabrik. There, the group was welcomed by Managing Director Wolfram Kuhn—great-great-grandson of the company’s founder—who guided them through the production process of Herborner’s sewage pumps. The FAT was successfully completed on the testing rig, demonstrating the pump’s capabilities.

FAT test of the Herborner sewage pump

 

Inside the Flovac Vacuum Station of Dolgen

On the second day, the team visited a Flovac vacuum system in Dolgen, Germany. The Director of Operations, together with local maintenance personnel from Stadtwerke Sehnde, explained the functionality and operation of the vacuum system. Later that afternoon, the group toured Beisner Elektrotechnik, a family-owned company with extensive experience in manufacturing electrical cabinets for Flovac and for this particular project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Botswana consultant meets welder of a vacuum tank

The third day featured a visit to the production facility of A. Leering Enschede in The Netherlands, where the FAT of the stainless-steel vacuum tank took place.

Known for delivering top-quality stainless-steel components for high-end clients, Erik Vunderink walked the team through each step of the production and quality control process. A highlight of the visit was a meeting between the Botswana consultant and the welder responsible for constructing the vacuum tank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon, the group visited Flovac’s main production facility, where they observed the manufacturing and testing processes of the vacuum valves, controllers, and monitoring system. On the in-house testing vacuum system, the full functionality of the components was demonstrated.

Testing Controllers at Flovac

 

 

On the final day of the tour, the group visited Busch Vacuum Solutions in Woerden, where they learned about the advantages of the Mink rotary claw vacuum pump. The visit concluded with a guided tour of the facility, followed by a relaxing boat tour through Amsterdam’s iconic canals.

Testing of Vacuum Pump at Busch

 

Canal Tour of Amsterdam

Flovac would like to express its sincere appreciation to the representatives from Botswana for their time, cooperation, and the successful completion of the FAT. We also extend our gratitude to all our suppliers for their hospitality, dedication, and ongoing partnership. We look forward to continued collaboration for many years to come.

Resilience in Action: How Vacuum Sewers Protected a Flooded Town

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How Vacuum Sewer Systems Helped Thargomindah Survive Australia’s Record Flood

In April 2025, the remote outback town of Thargomindah, Queensland was struck by the worst flooding in its history. Entire paddocks turned into inland seas. Emergency shelters filled. And yet, despite the odds, the town’s vacuum sewerage system held its ground — quite literally — thanks to smart planning, fast logistics, and the heroic commitment of one family and their monitoring system.

The Flood That Changed Everything

Thargomindah Flooding

The Bulloo River spilled over in March and April, inundating homes, council infrastructure, and even the camping ground where many residents sought temporary shelter. Despite this, toilets kept flushing, and ablution blocks stayed online — a quiet miracle powered by vacuum technology and dedication on the ground.

To add perspective. The flooded area was the size of Vistoia or three times the size of The Netherlands

 

 

 

What the Council Did Right (Before the Rain)

Jacinta Byrne Hometown Hero

 

 

The Bulloo Shire Council, together with Flovac, had already begun preparations the year before. Actions taken included:
• Raising controller pillars above flood levels.
• Stocking spares in advance and securing supply lines.
• Using real-time monitoring to identify problems before they escalated.

 

 

 

 

 

Even though floodwaters exceeded predicted levels and entered pits and controller enclosures, the raised design made recovery and cleaning easier.

 

 

Cleaning Up still had to take place

 

When Monitoring Saves the Day

Between March 25–29, vacuum pressures in the system plummeted and valve activations surged to over 800 per day, causing alarms to light up across the system. But this wasn’t failure—it was stress detection.
Flovac’s wireless monitoring allowed local technician Daryl Byrne to track the situation in real time, identify failing pits, and respond before services broke down.

Wireless Monitoring System

 

 

Even in such a remote location the wireless system could still function

 

 

The Byrne Family: Unsung Heroes of the Outback

With Daryl’s help, Jacinta and Dalton Byrne were out in the field daily—and nightly. According to Daryl:

The Byrne family,  jacinta and Dalton On call 24 hours

“There were some late nights and early mornings when Jacinta would come and grab Dalton at 3 a.m., saying we’ve got a red light. They’d both head out and by morning have all green lights, just in time for everyone needing the toilets.”

They manually cycled pump stations to ensure flow from flooded ablution blocks, restored failed pits, and cleaned and tested each unit before handing them back to Council.

Why Vacuum Systems Are Built for Resilience

  • Are sealed and airtight, preventing stormwater infiltration into the vacuum network.
  • Areas where infiltration was occurring from homes was easily identifiable.
  • Allow for elevated control installations.
  • Operate with centralised pump control, avoiding multiple flooded pump stations.
  • Can be remotely monitored and manually overridden during emergencies.

Flovac Support in the Background

Even during regional isolation, Flovac delivered new parts to Thargomindah in days. Their stock network and manufacturing readiness meant that vital equipment was replaced quickly, preventing service interruptions.
Lessons for Other Councils
1. Elevate infrastructure where you can.
2. Monitor and maintain in real time.
3. Train local champions—they make or break emergency response.
4. Choose vacuum when terrain and weather challenge gravity systems.
________________________________________
Closing
In the end, this wasn’t just a test of pipes and valves—it was a test of people and planning. Thargomindah passed.

Proud dad Daryl with Jacinta. Dalton out helping, not in picture. he said he was too busy working.

Retirement of Founding Partner Willem Gooren

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Flovac’s global management team gathered in Greece to congratulate Mr Willem Gooren on his retirement from the business he co-founded in 2005.

Mr Gooren has been involved with vacuum technology since 1981 and established Gooren BV in Holland in 1988. Mr Gooren has designed over 200 systems and has established 15 Flovac offices throughout Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Mr Gooren is widely considered one of the experts in vacuum technology and was a member of the European committee that developed the first vacuum sewerage standard in the world, EN 1091, the European standard that is now used throughout the Middle East and Asia as well as in Europe.

Willem will still be involved in some ongoing projects in the Middle East as there are very few people with his years of expertise that can assist in some of the more challenging projects that are found there.

We all wish Willem and his wife Rosa and family all of our best wishes and our hearfelt thanks for all of his guidance over the years.

How to identify 5,000,000 litres per year of salt water entering your sewer network at a single glance

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For many coastal communities, infiltration from stormwater and inflow from ground water (I&I) causes major problems. Not only are systems not designed to handle large extra flows, but the additional power costs and operational problems can bring a network to its knees.

St Huberts Island

The coastal community of St Huberts on the central coast of New South Wales in Australia is a beautiful town, surrounded by fantastic fishing spots and has a very high water table. As is common in these coastal communities a vacuum sewer system has been installed to handle the wastewater from the houses. The system was installed in the mid nineties and over the years there has been an increase of I&I into the system.

Vacuum systems are usually installed in high water table areas because they are less susceptible to infiltration than are gravity systems. Over time homeowners gravity pipes and even old collection pits can break and allow ground water to enter the system.

Central Coast council realised that they had a problem which left their residents vulnerable to a loss of service and hire Flovac to come up with a solution that would help locate areas within the network where stormwater was entering the network.

Flovacs monitoring system was installed and within weeks it became evident that the system was taking in water, not only during storm events, but also during high tides. Vacuum valves within the vacuum collection network operate pneumatically every time 40 litres of water enters the collection sump. In this community we would expect to see each valve operating 40-50 times per day or 2,000 litres. In the first month we noticed that one pit was activating between 200 and 500 times per day, even when it wasn’t raining. When it rained it activated even more. this represented between 10-17,000 litres of water every day.

The collection pits in most of this community were old and made out of fibreglass. Over the years there was some evidence of wear. when operators investigated this particular pit, highlighted by the monitoring system, they found that the floor of the pit was broken, allowing ground water to enter the sump. once discovered, the pit was replaced and you can see that from mid August the daily valve activations have reduced to only 10 activations per day as it was found that one of the houses connected was empty.

You can see from the video that water is entering the sump from the pit bottom and not from the incoming gravity line. As this is a high water table area, it was discovered that all of this water was salt water from the bay. each year this pit was adding at least 5 million litres of sea water to the system. A program is now in place to locate other points of infiltration.

The operators having had great success with this, also installed monitoring at a nearby town. After the first major storm, more than 20 collection pits had more than 300 activations each, a major amount of infiltration.

Without Flovacs monitoring system it would of been impossible to locate the problem

Contact Flovac to find out how we can solve your I&I problems.

First Vacuum System in the French Caribbean

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Flovac has recently commissioned the first vacuum sewer system in Grand Case in the French Caribbean. Other systems have already been installed by Flovac in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Puerto Rico and the Netherland Antilles.

Grand Case is a small tourist town on the French side of the island of Saint-Martin, with a long beach with turquoise waters. It is well known for the large number of bars and restaurants located next to the beach and along its main street.

Flat and sandy terrain with a high-water table

With such a high-water table a conventional gravity sewer would have been too difficult and expensive to install and would have required multiple pump stations. Fortunately, by installing vacuum mains, all pipework could be laid between 1.2-1.8 meters (4-6 feet) deep and above the water level.

Another advantage of installing vacuum mains is the absence of ground water infiltration into the network. This is very hard to prevent in gravity networks when the pipes are laid under the sea level. When gravity pipes take in ground water it causes problems at the treatment plant. Not just through increased flows but also through the salinity of the water.

Just as you don’t get infiltration, it is also impossible to get exfiltration. The negative pressure in the vacuum mains shows sewage cannot leak out. (shown here)

The leak tightness test is done daily throughout the pipe installation. As Grand Case is an important tourism area, it relies on fresh seafood for its restaurant area and clean beaches.

A single pump station

Only one vacuum station is required to service the entire area, even with its very busy bar and restaurant area. A stainless steel collection tank collects the sewage and a generator os provided to ensure continual power supply to the vacuum pumps and sewage pumps. The area is at risk from major storms and hurricanes and was devasted in 2017 from Hurricane Irma, so power at only a single location can keep the systems running. See more about the hurricane impact here

Please contact us for more information

Why is a Vacuum Sewer the Best Collection System for the Environment

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Gravity/Low-Pressure/Vacuum – which has the Greenest Credentials

It is very clear that septic tanks and cesspools are a disaster for the environment for a number of reasons. Leaking into waterways, poisoning fish and water birds, creating algae blooms. Affecting the overall health of the community.

The choice of a gravity sewer, low pressure sewer (grinder pump) or vacuum system is not as clear in many peoples minds. In many communities the health of the

Clean waterways are essential

community is important, but even more so, the health of the environment. Many people move to coastal communities because of their love of the natural environment. Maybe the beautiful lake, their favorite beach or special fishing spot. If the area is being affected by sewage spills or sewage smells on a regular basis, closing beaches or impacting local shellfish, how will that affect their property prices and quality of life.

Naturally, the cost of sewerage infrastructure is a critical factor, lets take that as a given, if costs are close to equal, what type of system would be best for the environment?

When clients have done carbon footprint studies in the past, the main areas they look at are in construction, materials and whole of life operational costs which include product replacements and energy use.

Construction

Gravity sewers tend to be either laid deep in the ground or have multiple pump stations. Deep sewers can mean pipes laid at 5-10 metres (15-30 feet deep trenches), we have seen deeper. In coastal areas this can mean dewatering which can impact the water table. If a contractor is dewatering the trench, that water goes somewhere else. This can impact the overall watertable which can kill off vegetation or impact the aquifer. Whole eco systems can be affected.

Both vacuum and low pressure systems tend to have shallow pipework and construction time is short. That means that equipment at site is much shorter. A project might be installed in a matter of months rather than years. A major carbon impact.

 

Construction Environmental Impact

Materials

Coastal area’s gravity sewers need either large diameter pipes or multiple pump stations. One of our earlier costal communities we used one vacuum pump station to replace 17 gravity pump stations. The amount of equipment required in 17 stations would be tremendous.

Low pressure systems it’s even worse. In a community of 1,000 houses, you would need 1,000 pumps and pump chambers. In a vacuum system you would require only 200-250 chambers. Vacuum collection pits are not filled with metal pumps and electrical components. They house vacuum valves which have a 50-year design life with minor parts changes every 10 years. The valves bodies from Flovac have a recycle stamp on them as the PP and GP can be recycled.

Whole of Life Operational Costs

Energy costs are the largest component of operational costs in sewer systems.

In cases such as the one in the section above where one vacuum pump station replaced 17 gravity stations, you can be sure that the energy costs of 17 stations were a lot more than a single vacuum station. That system looked after 1,800 houses. A low pressure pump system would require 1,800 pumps, each one requiring electricity.

Due to the low energy requirements, some vacuum systems are now being powered by solar.

The Bigger Risks

Sewerage leaking into the waterways.

In gravity sewers, you could have leaks for months before someone reports a bad smell or something nasty floating in the lake.

Low pressure sewers use a positive pressure and if there is a pipe break sewage can be squirt meters into the air and can be very hard to contain. Contamination of waterways can occur quickly.

Vacuum sewers cannot leak. They operate under a negative pressure and in some projects you will see water and vacuum sewer pipes in the same trench as you cannot get sewage leaking out of the pipe. This video shows how that is possible.

Other benefits

When we installed the vacuum system at the Eco Resort Couran Cove south of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia there were a number of reasons why a vacuum sewer was chosen – You can read about the project here. 

The environmental benefits that they looked at were:

  • Ability to handle low flush toilets thus reducing the ultimate treated water disposal problem
  • Minimal impact on the landscape during construction with shallow trenches
  • Maximum water recovery for reuse in the re-vegetation irrigation system
  • Construction route flexibility thus minimizing the damage to vegetation
  • Ability to transport grey and black water in the one small bore pipe
  • Ability to safely lay all services in the one trench with minimal spacing
  • Zero infiltration and exfiltration
  • Ability of the system to service the entire site with one centralized pump station
  • Ability of the scheme to service the Boardwalk accommodation and even the boat sullage

Flovac vacuum systems are referenced as The Green Future of Sewerage. It is easy to see why. What outcome do you want for your community, lets hope its the Green one.

My Vacuum Pumps are Due for an Upgrade – What Next ?

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When a vacuum sewer system was planned in your area, there was probably an options study done showing whole of life costs. There was an expectation that over the life of the system (100 years) there would be items that would wear out and need replacing. Just as there would be components that would needs parts replaced through normal maintenance. (Asset Life)

For the rotary vane vacuum pumps, that would mean oil and filter changes. According to the pump manuals you would expect to do a fairly extensive motor overhaul at year 5 with a possible replacement at year 15. Through good care, we have seen many vacuum pumps have their lives extended considerably. That has been especially true of liquid ring pumps.

Many of the systems built prior to 1996 used liquid ring pumps (the days when water wasn’t considered a scarce resource). Since then, there has been a mixture of mainly rotary vane pumps for larger systems with smaller systems using dry running claw pumps. There have been a few outlier pumps like oil sealed screw pumps and even some rotary lobe pumps.

The vacuum pumps in your system would have been sized based on an air to liquid calculation based on the length of vacuum mains and the volume of the mains. Operationally we always look to the amount of air it takes to move the liquid through the system. A well run fully developed system should run at about an 8 to 1, or 10 to 1 air to liquid ratio. We know that if that creeps up to 30 to 1 that there is too much air in the system, and it should be tuned. A high rate like that would suggest that the vacuum pumps would be running far more than they need to. If the ratio though was lower at about 4 to 1 or 6 to 1, we would know there was too much water relative to air. This might mean the discharge pumps are running longer than they should, relative to the vacuum pumps. This might be due to I&I (infiltration and inflow) or higher flows than expected in the catchment. (Ask us for the calculation sheet for the air to liquid ratio)

With a good air to liquid ratio, we would expect the vacuum pumps to run at about 6 to 8 hours per day, in total, in a fully developed system. If your pumps are running longer than that you should check your air to liquid ratio to see what is impacting your system.

Two of the biggest mistakes that we commonly see when utilities are looking to upgrade their pumps is

  • Increasing the size of the pumps as the current run time is excessively long
  • Changing from a oil lubricated pump (R5) to a dry pump (Mink) to reduce operational costs.

Increasing the size of your pumps

This might be a great idea if done for the right reason. Talk to your engineers. If you can increase capacity at the station maybe that will allow you to accept more flows from subdivisions, new areas, higher density (more revenue).

If though you are only increasing the size because your pumps are running a long time then you need to fix the problem first. Why are the pumps running so long? Is the system tuned correctly? Are there leaks in the valves or pipework? Oversized pumps can increase the problems in a network by creating more leaks.

Once the system is tight and you have an accurate idea of your air to liquid ratio then you can make a more informed decision.

Changing to Mink Pumps

If the change is because you are using too much oil and too many filters, then it would suggest that your pump run hours are too long and you should take the steps mentioned above.

In small systems Mink pumps and their equivalent have improved substantially but in large systems where you are changing over from R5 630 pumps or their equivalent there are a number of downsides that utilities are now discovering.

In the larger sizes the Mink pumps run a lot hotter and potentially noisier. The heat has an impact on pipe materials in the station, venting of the station, and will badly affect odour control measures.

On larger systems there is a limit to the depth of vacuum that these type of pumps will achieve and often the result is an increase in energy use and pump run hours.

Some utilities have also tried the addition of variable speed drives in their pumps as a way of increasing vacuum in the lines and decreasing line flooding. The speed is often varied due to the amount of vacuum pressure in the lines or at the end. It is rare to see this used in wet/sewer type systems and is more common in dry/food processing applications. As vacuum sewers are based on a ratio of air to liquid, the use of a VSD disguises problems in the system and can ultimately increase problems in the networks.

Upgrading of your vacuum pumps is inevitable – we can help you with finding the right solution for your system

Call our Engineering or Operations Group to organise the following as a first step.

  • System Audit To correctly size the vacuum pumps an analysis of the air to liquid ratio is needed. The system needs to be air tight to do this. If there are leaking vacuum valves, due to old age, air leaks in the pump station or elsewhere, these need to be fixed prior to any upgrade as any larger or new vacuum pumps could make these harder to find and just lead to higher energy costs and high oil use. An Audit will check the current state of your system; give you an understanding of what will be required to accomplish the outcomes you want
  • Capacity Audit What was the system designed to handle, what can it potentially handle for the next 15 years.

To read more about Upgrades Click Here

Interview with a Utility Ops Team Leader

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A recent interview with team leader David Parkinson of Byron Shire Council gives insights into their vacuum sewer system and just how installing a monitoring system can have time saving and financial benefits to councils.

The Byron Bay community on the north eastern coast of New South Wales is listed as one of the top ten destinations in Australia for tourists from around the world. Its pristine beaches and popular cafes and restaurants ensured that even through covid, domestic tourism has kept the area as busy as usual.

A vacuum system was installed in 1993 in a section of Byron Bay which encompasses light industrial, commercial and residential users. Increasingly heavy rainfalls on the coast revealed the need to pinpoint operational overload issues in the system, this could only be accomplished via the use of automation tools. Retrofitting their system with a monitoring system has given the Council operators a better overview of their systems operation, and a means to protect the mechanical health of this key community infrastructure investment.

A recent interview with Team leader Dave Parkinson of Byron Bay Council gives further insight into just how installing an electronic monitoring system can have time saving and financial benefits to councils.

  1. What has been your role at Byron Bay Council what has been your involvement in implementing the Flovac Sewerage System there and the monitoring system?

“Essentially my job as Team Leader was to oversee the install of the telemetry pillars to the 89 pits. Also overseeing the installation of antennae to receive telemetry from the pits, and also the roll-out of training and instructions on installation to staff. I deliver an overview to new staff on the system and how it works”.

  1. How long has your Flovac system and the monitoring devices been installed?

“The Flovac system commenced being installed in 1993. The monitoring system in 2020”.

  1. How does your monitoring system work?

“It’s a great system which has empowered staff to monitor the system in operation using their iPads and mobiles on a daily basis. They are able to fix and rectify faults quickly and seamlessly”.

Saving Operational Hours

  1. What, in your opinion is the main advantage of the Flovac system itself, and in particular their monitoring system?

“The main advantage is in time saving after hours. Staff can monitor the issue before leaving home and drive straight to the pinpointed problem pit or pits”.

  1. Is the monitoring device a time and cost saving system?

“Yes, it’s benefits are both; in time and cost savings for operations staff. For example, when it’s extreme weather like our recent big storm event on the East Coast of NSW you can locate the problem much quicker, lessening the time spent in poor weather/working conditions for our teams”.

  1. Would you recommend it to other councils with similar low-lying coastal terrain as you have?

“Absolutely if you’re going to install this type of system, we would recommend you have the monitoring system on it. We asked our maintenance staff to assist us with the choice of systems when we needed to replace the old one and the Flovac system was selected because of the whole package that was offered. After five years we gradually moved over to this system”.

  1.  How did you hear about this system?

“Flovac approached Council when we were deciding to replace the ageing valves. We were impressed by the ongoing support offered by John Radinoff and his team when he presented the Flovac system’s many benefits to the Management and Operational teams”.

  1. Do Flovac provide good operational support when you need it?

“Yes, they have followed through with their ongoing support 24/7. Flovac also offered us the first monitoring service. The company is innovative and developed it to assist us in more efficient delivery of services to our residents”.

  1. Has the addition of a monitoring system helped you operationally? If so, in what way?

“Yes, absolutely it allows the operational team guys to take control of the system themselves. There are definitely long-term savings which we should recoup within a five-to-seven-year period”.

  1. Would you suggest that any new vacuum system automatically should have monitoring built in from the start?

“For sure, it’s helped us considerably”.

  1. Do you prefer having a vacuum system, or would you prefer a low-pressure pump system and why?

“We have both systems in Byron, each has their own specific purpose”.

  1. Would you like to add anything that is not covered in the questions?

“As the monitoring system is more refined we will be able to better assess the current Flovac system for even more benefits”.

 

To read how the monitoring system saved Byron’s vacuum system during major flooding earlier in the year please Click Here

For more information about Flovac’s Wireless monitoring system Click Here