Posts

Vacuum Sewer Operations Manager Interview

/0 Comments/in , /by
Alistair Read, Wastewater Utility Manager swapping old for new

Alistair Read, Wastewater Utility Manager swapping old for new

Interview with Alistair Read – Operations Manager Coorong Quays, South Australia.

Coorong Quays Project Link

1. What is your role at Coorong Quays?

I am the Manager of Operations of the Coorong Quays canal development in charge of the vacuum sewer system as well as the Treatment Plant. With the vacuum sewer system I am involved with the installation through to the tuning of each stage. I also review the specific design by Flovac and local engineer Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec (WGA). At this stage it is a private development and we have operated as a private utility.

2. How long has your vacuum sewerage system been in operation?

This vacuum system has been in operation since 1990 at Coorong Quays. It was originally known as Marina Hindmarsh and attracted a lot of holiday makers from Adelaide. It was the first vacuum system installed in South Australia. I have had 22 years of personal experience in operating this system. Starting out with Stage 2 with 36 Pits to Stage 8 with 276 Pits now servicing 845 homes. I have supervised seven stages, including the building of two of the three vacuum pumping stations. We also use the vacuum system to suck the wastewater off boats at the marina as well as many of the houseboats which travel up the Murray River.

Kangaroo Island bushfires

3. What do you do when not managing the system at Coorong Quays.

I am very active with the Army Reserve and often need to be away with the Reserve. Earlier this year I was tasked to bushfire assistance at Kangaroo Island. It was a devastating period. I also love camping in the northern part of the state. It is incredibly beautiful. When I am away for extended periods I know I can rely on Flovac helping out my team, and I can also keep in touch via the monitoring system if I have coverage.

4. What are some of the main benefits of the Flovac Vacuum Sewerage System in your view?

There are many benefits of the vacuum system. It has a number of environmental benefits: It’s ideal for high water tables with typical trenching of 0.9 to 1.2 to 1.5 range, for the main lines. It’s specifically suited to coastal tidal areas and environmentally sensitive areas. For example, if there is any third-party major breach, that line flow will stop due to a lack of vacuum. This means the spillage impact is minimal in the area as it is a gravity system with vacuum assisting. Far less than conventional Gravity/Pressure or LP system, where the environmental impact could be greater, so the Flovac Vacuum System is ideal for such locations.

It is also ideal as it has minimal environmental impact for sensitive areas like Coorong Quays where the development borders on the Coorong and the Murray River. It is also a very cost-effective system to operate. It takes a smaller team to run, without needing heavy specialized equipment. Thus, keeping maintenance asset costs down.

We operate everything at the development under ISO 14001, which is an environmental certification. This governs many aspects including health and safety. The vacuum system helped with the certification. That it cant leak, no infiltration, low power use and very good from a health and safety perspective was all very important.

5. Why did you choose this system over other possible options?

Manager Alistair Read at an old styled concrete chamber with Flovac valve

In comparison with Gravity and LP sewer systems we are very happy with this system, as it has the flexibility for ‘add-ons’ to initial plans. You can tune this system to work for your purposes. For example, until recently Coorong Quays had a low population in winter, with higher numbers in summer.

The system needed to be tuned to fit in with this and thus reducing operating cost it has been more energy efficient. This vacuum system has the ability to have an auto air injected system to assist with this over the ‘High season’. This system is highly flexible.

We have recently experienced some social changes from having a ‘transitional’ population to more permanent residents. This has occurred because of lifestyle changes and with the current COVID-19 situation people are now working from home at Coorong Quays coupled with increased domestic holidaying.

This system has worked well for us as it has allowed us to cope with this social change, and with changing housing designs now being built, that includes more bathrooms, bedrooms etc.

6. What do you think of FVS systems in general?

This system is a robust one that also has the ability to be flexible’ in coastal terrains. It can be designed to better fit in with the land contours.

For example, in the case of Coastal it can be designed with minimum disturbance, as opposed to conventional system installations. From an operations viewpoint it is also easy to maintain with a smaller crew.

Maintenance is recommended annually. With rebuilds 10 -15 years for internal components, depending on cycle usage.

From my experience with valves, it’s about 15 years with nominal use of 30,000 to 40,000 cycles per valve a year.

7. Would you recommend this particular system to other similar developments such as yours?

Flovac Monitoring System

I highly recommend this system for coastal environments. Used in conjunction with the wireless monitoring system (FMS) it is an even better way of monitoring this system and tuning it to run at its optimum. The benefit of this is that it can be done remotely, and tuned on site.

The FMS electronic monitoring system also records how the valve activity is performing and allows the operator to address any maintenance issues straight away.

8. Has Flovac provided good support to you and your team?

Flovac have been with us all the way through. New product developments like the monitoring system and PE collection pits. Improvements to their valve and controller and  their engineers and operators have been fantastic. They run 24-hour support, though we have never really needed it.

It’s important to recognise that a vacuum system is not just a single product, its a system. So we need to be on top of all aspects. I have plenty of other things to watch over in my life so its been great knowing that we can rely on the Flovac team. They are doing this day in, day out , all around the world. They know what they are doing and they have never let us down.

Coorong Quays residential canal development project in South Australia

Versatility for Developers

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A “Plug N Play” Temporary Solution.

Installing infrastructure at the early stages of a residential housing development can often disrupt the staging process and the cash flow of the project. Vacuum sewerage systems can make it easier.

At Flovac, our engineers have used deployable engineering solutions that will be incorporated into long term projects.

The town of Clevedon in Auckland New Zealand is finally beginning the process of eradicating septic tanks which have been causing environmental problems and will install a new Flovac vacuum sewerage system. Growth in the town had been on hold due to the lack of a proper municipal sewerage system. This has impacted on the restaurants and commercial premises and the increased demand on housing which is just a short drive to Auckland City.

Gravity sewers were looked at for the area, but a very high water table made that a very expensive and disruptive alternative. Low pressure Grinder pumps were also looked at but with an ultimate population of more than 6,000 people costs made that prohibitive. There were also other downsides with looking at grinder pumps where the local utility has had some terrible experiences. An increasing number of severe storms meant that power outages left communities with no access to sewer services. Also off sewage during low flow periods put added pressure onto Treatment Plants. The main issue was also the reluctance of the community in having sewerage infrastructure on their properties which would need to be accessed whenever problems arose.

The proposed vacuum sewer system will require only a single vacuum pump station and all sewage infrastructure will be outside the property boundaries. There will also be far less impact on residents as installation can be a lot faster than a gravity installation as all pipework will be shallow in the ground and so less de-watering will be required.

Watercare who are the water and wastewater service provider for the greater Auckland area is leading the project and has had a lot of experience with the successful Flovac vacuum sewerage system at the town of Kawakawa Bay which has won a number of engineering and environmental awards. members of the project team have also visited the successful projects that were installed in Christchurch NZ which replaced systems impacted by large earthquakes. Auckland is also in an earthquake zone, making vacuum systems an even better solution.

As the township of Clevedon connects up to the sewer network a number of new residential developments will also be built and will connect to the system. The vacuum sewerage system is versatile enough to cope with developers adding on new houses as they are built over the coming 10-15 years.

As there are multiple developers involved in the project, the timing of infrastructure installation can be difficult. What roads need to be built first, which group of houses need to be serviced first.

One well know developer with a small block of 26 houses positioned at the very end of the catchment wanted to develop their land well ahead of the infrastructure being ready for connection. As it is a major project it will take over two years to complete and possibly longer before the pipework reaches all the way to the end of the catchment. Working with Flovacs engineers an interim solution was proposed and Watercare was flexible enough to allow the developer the opportunity of utilising short term infrastructure.

Flovac’s deployable sewerage systems have been used in a variety of projects around the world, including at the London Olympics. You can see details of the projects here.

The developer installed the vacuum mains and house connections as well as the Flovac collection pits. A plug and play containerized vacuum pump station was positioned next to a temporary treatment plant and the system was connected up. Once houses are built, local plumbers can connect to the vacuum pits. The system will be operated and maintained by a local operator with support from Flovac. As the station and all of the collection pits have wireless monitoring, Flovac’s operations center in Sydney Australia can provide 24 hour support.

When the time comes, the deployable system can be moved on to the next project and the vacuum mains connected up to the main Clevedon project mains and vacuum pump station 4 km away. The developer has spent a minimal amount of money which allowed them to start selling houses significantly faster than traditional methods would have allowed for.

Interview with Marina Expert for Flovac, Francisco Rodríguez

/0 Comments/in , /by

Francisco Rodríguez

At the end of 2017, aguasresiduales.info, Spain’s leading journal on wastewater and sanitation interviewed Flovac Spain’s Technical Director to understand the massive growth in the vacuum sewerage industry in Spain and elsewhere, particularly for Marina and Port infrastructure.

This is a translation from the original article which can be found here.

We speak with Francisco Rodríguez, Technical Manager of FLOVAC Spain, about vacuum sanitation in Ports and Marinas

The company FLOVAC Vacuum Sewerage Systems, is the world’s largest designer, manufacturer and supplier of complete vacuum sewerage systems Among its solutions, one of the fastest growing solutions is the complete sanitation of marinas and commercial ports, where a vacuum sewerage network allows the operator to manage the port’s own sanitation network and at the same time service the collection of wastewater from the boats.

Francisco, in general terms, how does a vacuum sanitation system installed in ports and marinas work?  

A Flovac valve connected to the vacuum network is installed at each connection point. When it detects that there is about 20 cm of water in the sump, the valve opens, sucks in the water, sucks in air and closes again in a matter of 2 or 3 seconds. All this without electricity, only with the force of the vacuum.

The only point that needs electricity is the vacuum station. The vacuum pumps located in the station maintain a constant vacuum level in the vacuum network that covers the entire port or marina. A tank collects the wastewater before being driven or pumped to the municipal collector or sewage treatment plant.

What advantages does this vacuum sanitation offer compared to traditional sanitation in this type of site? In marinas and ports, the water table is very high and has often been filled with breakwater, so deep ditches are extremely expensive and technically complicated. Thanks to the force of the vacuum, the pipes can be installed at a shallow depth and serve the entire port or marina with a single vacuum station. The wells where buildings and megayachts are poured can also be shallow, since the valve only needs 20 cm of water to act.

The vacuum station itself can be buried (for space or aesthetics) or it can be on the surface, without the need for excavation. Another advantage would be the absence of odors, since when emptying the well each time there is 20 cm of water (about 50 liters), the residence time is minimal and avoids the appearance of the smell characteristic of pumping. In addition, the valve remains open a couple of seconds after emptying the well, so it renews its air. The network of pipes is watertight, since any leakage is detected in the vacuum station and an alarm occurs. In addition, in case of leakage, air will be sucked through the fissure and no residual water will be spilled. Therefore, it is the only system that ensures correct environmental protection of the port or marina.

As for the installation costs of this technology and maintenance costs, replacement of equipment, etc., what can you tell us? The reduction of excavation in such difficult conditions as a port, means a reduction of important costs, and the reason why sewage collection by vacuum is the most economical solution. The maintenance costs of a system with a single vacuum station, compared to an alternative that would require multiple pumping, are also clearly lower. The valve is specifically designed to work with wastewater. They are manufactured in glass filled polypropylene, with a stainless steel shaft. The result is that the first valves installed in Spain, specifically in Empuriabrava, 15 years ago, continue to operate with a minimum consumption of spare parts

Currently FLOVAC is the benchmark in the installation of vacuum sewerage systems, both in residential areas and in ports and marinas, what are your main references and projects at this time in Spain? The first installations in ports that we carried out in Spain, more than 10 years ago, were sewerage projects for the existing buildings in the marinas or ports. Later, we added sewage suction points for small boats that had to move to that point. In the most recent marinas, a single vacuum station serves buildings, suction points for yachts located at the gas station, megayachts on their own mooring and even a network of bilge water suction points that are treated before they are sent to the public sewage system.

The result is that among our projects in Spain there are all kinds of facilities: large commercial ports, such as the Port of Barcelona or small ones such as Arenys de Mar, marinas for yachts or mega yachts such as the Royal Marina Juan Carlos I (Valencia), Port Vell and Marina Vela (Barcelona) or industrial facilities such as Marina Barcelona 92 ​​for megayacht repair.

To empty wastewater from small boats, suction points are available, usually next to the gas station. Likewise, Flovac valves open and allow the emptying of yacht deposits. The megayachts, on the other hand, have their own sewage pumps, which drive the water to small wells located on the same dock where Flovac valves evacuate the water to the vacuum station. Finally, to evacuate the bilge water from the gas stations, a second vacuum network is required, so that these waters end up in a different reservoir that allows their treatment before being sent to the public sewage system. But the equipment at the vacuum station is the same for both networks.

Finally, Francisco, are marina and port projects being installed in other countries?

Flovac is leading the world in providing sewerage solutions at Marina’s and many countries are now following Spain’s lead which we feel is a world leader in using best environmental practices. Greece has always been another leading country for marinas and we have done a number of projects as far away as Australia and more recently in the Caribbean, Italy is also a very good market for us.

For more information please visit www.flovac.es or www.flovac.com