Location: Bendigo Region, Central Victoria
Customer: Fire-fighting Training Centre
Problems: Hydrocarbon loadings, algae, high TSS
Configuration: A
Products: Treatment Train consisting of a off-Line SPEL Puraceptor & SPEL Floating Wetlands
Puraceptor Inlet/Outlet size: 300mm
Treatment Flow Rate: 30LPS for Puraceptor, whole site for Floating Treatment Wetlands
The Challenge
The site has a closed loop lake that captures all water and the lake was used for fire-fighting training water.
With the nature of the site, the hydrocarbon is used as an accelerant for fire training. The Hydrocarbon was running off site, due to no containment system, and into the lake resulting in a large sheening.
As the site was, there was nothing to contain any hydrocarbon spills if there was a catastrophic failure.
This meant that the facility had to close down the reuse of the lake water and use mains water as an alternative. The catchment is a mixture of unsealed and sealed catchment with high TSS and Hydrocarbon loadings. Due to nutrient buildup from the runoff, algal blooms were experienced.
Our Solution
The AKS Team (SPEL Victoria & Tasmania) worked with the project team to design and construct a turnkey package.
Due to a limited budget, a staged approach was taken.
By pre-treating all low-flow runoff through the SPEL Puraceptor, then running the water down a rock beached swale prior to entering the lake, the runoff is cleansed from any hydrocarbon spillage in normal rainfall conditions.
Once the water is in the lake, through the use of an aerator, the flow is directed through the floating wetlands.
The Floating Treatment Wetlands are unique in the way that they are not affected by rising and falling water levels; this meant that during summer, the client could draw down the water level more without fear of the system suffering.
The result is that the severe algal blooms are now history and the frogs have returned to the water body for the first time in years.
