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EPA demands that vacuum technology to be used at Eco Resort

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The Couran Cove Eco Resort in Queensland Australia is an award winning environmental success story for Flovac and for our client.

Designing to best environmental practices which included refunds to staying guests if they used less than average electricity and water during their stay.  A vacuum collection system was a natural choice, chosen for its ease of installation and environmental credentials.

2,000 visitors plus staff with a swimming pool, function center, laundry facility, restaurant and marina.

The system at a glance

  • 1 Vacuum Pump Station
  • 2,000 Guests plus Staff
  • Villa’s, apartments and cabins along with a conference facility, restaurants, sporting areas, offices and marina pump out facility
  • 215 Collection Pits
  • Fibre Optic Monitoring System

System Benefits

The developer showed a strong preference for a vacuum sewerage system as he saw it offering significant benefits in this development over each of the alternatives. These benefits were identified as:-

  • 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

Couran Cove Web Page

If you would like more information about this project or would like a free concept and budget for your next project please contact Flovac Engineering by clicking here

Vacuum Valve and Collection Sumps were located under the walkways in stainless steel vessels.

 

 

Award winning project for Flovac as a Commerce by Design award in the annual Gold Coast Urban Design Awards

 

Able to handle seasonal flows from different areas within the resort. The remote beach restaurant is 3 km from the main resort

 

Why Hilton Resorts chose a Flovac Vacuum Sewerage System

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The Hilton Salwa Resort is designed to become one of the largest resorts and residential projects in Qatar. Utilizing a Flovac vacuum sewer system the resort is constructed on 257 acres of land in the Salwa area. The beach resort and villas is a massive project that includes a water park, marina, dive center, cinemas, pools, a health club, spa and a considerable retail space. In addition to the rooms and suites in the main hotel building, the resort will also include two small “villages” of family villas. (Hilton Hotels  announcement)

Hilton Salwa Beach Resort and Villas

Flovac was asked to design and supply a vacuum system that would be able to handle the high flows that will ultimately be handled by the Resort. The vacuum system needed to facilitate not only the hotel but also residential areas, restaurants and the marina. The client was aware of the good work which Flovac had done at Reef Island in Bahrain (Read Here) and was particularly impressed with the monitoring system that had been installed.

The monitoring allows operators to see exactly what was happening anywhere in the network including the operation of the vacuum pump station. Mr Willem Gooren one of the founders of Flovac managed the project and was based in the Middle East for extensive periods during the projects establishment and finalization.

Smart and Safe Installation

In sandy soils, especially areas where there is a high water table vacuum systems are ideal as all of the pipework is installed at a shallow depth in the ground. A stepped profile within the pipeline design allows for some utilization of gravity while keeping the pipe shallow.

Installation of vacuum mains is a lot faster than the installation of gravity sewers as there is less requirement to de-water or pre-load the land. HDPE pipe is used often when installing in hot climates and where soil conditions are unstable.

Leak Proof

The use of a Flovac system was also important to ensure that there would be no potential leaks from the system. As all vacuum pipework is under a negative pressure sewage cannot leak from the pipe in the event of a break.

The Vacuum Pump Station is one of the largest stations in the world. Housed in a dry and air conditioned environment the two large collection tanks are connected to five large Busch Mink MM 1202 vacuum pumps. Flovac has used Mink pumps since before 2005 and so has great experience in the correct set up to maximize the ability to handle the large flows required in this project.

 

 

 

 

Glossy Bay Resort and Marina Project opens in the Caribbean

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Flovac’s latest project in the Caribbean has opened in Canouan at Glossy Bay Resort and Marina with Flovac providing a plug and play containerized vacuum system and treatment plant.

The system at the Glossy Bay Marina and Resort will support a luxury marina which will accommodate mega yachts in excess of 100 meters in length. There will also be hotels villa’s, restaurants and other facilities. The island of Canouan is a two hour ferry ride to the main island of St Vincent of the St Vincent and the Grenadines group of islands in the Southern part of the Caribbean.

As the project was quite remote Flovac supplied a containerized plug and play vacuum pump station and treatment plant. All water on the island is supplied by a desalination plant, so water is precious and spared as much as possible. Treatment quality is very important so that this pristine area is not polluted in any way.

The containerized system has been used in deployable situations on a number of projects and is a great way to transport and set up a project. You can read more about Flovac’s deployable solutions HERE

Flovac vacuum sewerage and marine systems have become very well respected among the boating community. Flovac has completed many world class marina facilities around the world, including Italy, Australia, Greece and Spain. It was the completion of the latest super yacht facility at Marina Vela in Barcelona that caught the attention of the owners in Canouan.

You can read more about Flovac’s experience with Marina’s and why a Flovac solution is often chosen in this interview with Flovac’s expert Mr Francisco Rodríguez

There are many positive reasons for using a vacuum system in this type of project. Fast, easy and cheap installation are some of the key attributes, but importantly for this client was the reduced risk of any overflows of sewage into the water area’s. This is a first class resort and the beach and marina areas need to be pristine. The system can also easily be monitored and maintained by the resorts utility personnel as no specialist equipment is required to handle the vacuum system.

 

 

Reef Island Resort Official Opening in Bahrain

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A high profile project and one of the largest scale vacuum sewerage systems ever designed had an official opening this month in Bahrain for its key resort project.

Reef Island decided to use a Flovac vacuum sewerage system due to the ease and speed of installation compared to using a gravity sewer systems. There was also a decision by the developers of the resort that they wanted to use world class environmental best practice and through research had discovered that this is what Flovac delivered.

The whole island is serviced by just a single vacuum station which is completely concealed underground.  The island features not only this world class resort but numerous bungalows, apartment buildings and world class restaurants.

For the special opening Flovac’s Chairman Mr Willem Gooren was invited as a special guest along with members of the Flovac team who were involved with the system development.

To assist with the operations of the vacuum system Flovac has installed a monitoring system that enables the operations center in Holland to provide additional remote support. With our senior operational teams able to review the system in real time, fast communication can occur to assist those based locally.