Stormwater Harvesting at Melbourne and Olympic Parks
Water Recycling Facilities Tour
- Integrated water management
- Optimisation of operation and maintenance
- Optimisation of the treatment process and collection/delivery
- Network performance
- Develop designs for new projects to augment the harvested volumes
- Coordinate the maintenance activities on site
Water Recycling Facilities Tour - Melbourne Sports Precinct
Melbourne and Olympic Parks precinct is Australia's premier sports and entertainment provider; home to hundreds of sporting, cultural and entertainment events, most notably, The Australian Open Tennis Grand Slam.
IV Water and Melbourne and Olympic Parks management team are traditional allies in implementation of engineering solutions associated with the operation of the rainwater harvesting facility at AAMI stadium and the stormwater harvesting facility at Melbourne Park and the development of options for increased stormwater harvesting within the precinct.
The stormwater harvesting facility, built in 2010, is part of stage 1 MOP redevelopment, is designed to collect the storm water run-off from adjoining drains, treat it via the treatment train and reuse the resulting product water within the precinct for irrigation and toilet flush.
The scheme forms an integral part of ensuring the overall sustainability of the area and the events that take place onsite. This is achieved through reduced potable water usage for irrigation and toilet flushing and reducing the environmental impact of run-off to the adjacent Yarra River. Complete asset condition assessment, performance review and recommendations on the water treatment plant modifications are delivered at regular intervals.
Stormwater Harvesting: Seven Years of Operation
Presented at "National Water Recycling and Reuse Technology 2019 Conference"
Working Towards Stormwater Harvesting Plant Recommissioning and Recycled Water Supply Resuming in May, 2022
New UV system installed
This new advanced system produces the UV dose of 58.0 mJ/cm with only three lamps. The system features latest generation PPT high-power amalgam UV lamps warranted to 14,000 hours of operation. This presents a significant saving both in spares and energy costs. The model also has a capability of upgrade within same model (up to extra 3 lamps). Real sustainability in action at Melbourne and Olympic Parks!
Diversion of Western Tennis Courts Run-off to Melbourne Park System Completed
Western Tennis Courts are located in the far west corner of Melbourne sports precinct between Batman Avenue and the railway line. Western courts stormwater harvesting scheme was commissioned in 2010 but de-commissioned in 2016 due to the construction of the pedestrian bridge. After the completion of bridge construction Melbourne and Olympic Parks management started investigating options of recomissioning the project. Following the successful collaboration between Melbourne and Olympic Parks and City West Water a transfer pipeline to connect the Western courts scheme to Melbourne Park was completed and hydrostatically tested in July, 2019. The modifications to the diversion structure were completed in June, 2021. As a result additional 12,000,000 litres of run-off water are now being added to the Melbourne Park stormwater harvesting scheme leading to the total savings of 52,000,000 litres annually.
Infrastructure Cleaned and Equipment Inspected
According to maintenance requirements of the stormwater harvesting facility IV Water conducted a clean out of external infrastructure. Stormwater diversion structures, detention tanks, pump stations and gross polutant traps were cleaned and inspected in March, 2022. Approximately 25 tons of pollutants and sediment have been intercepted, captured and diverted from entering Yarra River.
Water Quality Tests
Water quality tests conducted for Raw water (inlet to the water treatment plant) and Product Water (past UV) to confirm compliance with relevant Australian standards, regulations and developed risks assessment targets.
| 12 May 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Raw Water | Clear Water | |
| Adenovirus by Cell Culture per 500 ml | < 1.0 | < 1.0 |
| E.Coli MPN/100 ml | < 1.0 | < 1.0 |
| Total coliforms MPN/100 ml | < 1.0 | < 1.0 |
| Cryptosporidium per litre | < 0.05 | < 0.05 |
| Giardia per litre | < 1.0 | < 1.0 |
You might wonder why raw water quality was so good? We dosed water in the raw water tank with a locally produced natural solution over a long detention period (Covid 19 shut down) to combat anaerobic processes there. It seemed to work well judging from the results - clear water, no odor low bacterial and virus counts.
Supply of Recycled Water Resumed
Full re-commissioning of stormwater harvesting operations at Melbourne and Olympic Parks completed in May, 2022 and recycled water supply within the precinct resumed in June. Approximately 420,000 litres of water have been supplied to Melbourne and Olympic Parks venues toilets alone over the month of June 2022.
