COM: Port Stanvac Desalination Plant | 100gL | $1.8b

[monotonehell]

Stones and glasshouses Fabricator (try "you're" instead of "your" and "gotten" in that context? Try "become")

[rhino]

A member of the Australian Tunnelling Society is bored out of his skull? Shouldn't they have bored into his skull?

[rhino]

North-south water link in design stage
Russell Emmerson From: The Advertiser March 23, 2010 5:39PM

THE first step of a $400m project to link Adelaide's northern and southern water supplies has been taken with a $30 million design contract awarded.
AquaLink SA - a joint venture between engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, US water consultancy MWH and Adelaide-based water firm Tonkin Consulting - announced it had won the design and development contract for the North-South Interconnection System Project.
Parsons Brinckerhoff water general manager Tom Mosquera said AquaLink SA would assess options for the north-south connector, work toward meeting regulatory and environmental approvals, develop concept designs and plan the early stages of construction.
"The JV (joint venture) team will apply local knowledge plus global and interstate experience and expertise to this important project," he said in a statement. "We will also be working closely with SA Water to complete Stage One and help ensure the success of this project."
Adelaide's water distribution system is separated at the River Torrens into northern and southern pipeline networks. The Hope Valley reservoir, in the city's north, is fed largely by the River Torrens. The Happy Valley reservoir, to the south, is reliant on the Onkaparinga River.
The network does not have the capacity for the transfers of large volumes of water between the two systems.
The problem was highlighted back in 2007 when the State Government approved the 50 gigalitre desalination plant at Port Stanvac - and underlined when it decided to expand the plant's capacity to 100Gl.
The plant is expected to deliver its first water by the end of this year and be fully operational in 2012.
"The Network Water Security Program project will allow water from our reservoirs, the River Murray and the Adelaide Desalination Plant to be used flexibly across the entire metropolitan region," then Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald said last year when announcing the project.
"At 50Gl, the Adelaide desalination plant was able to be integrated into the Happy Valley water supply system without the need to interconnect the northern and southern systems.
"However, the recent capacity doubling of the plant means we need to connect the two systems to ensure we can optimise use of the 100 Gl capacity over 12 months."
The project is to be undertaken with no disruption to the city's water supply, using a network of smaller pipes with booster pumps rather than delivering one large pipeline.
The works are also designed to upgrade the existing network and consider storage management.

[rubberman]

Nice to know the work is to be done.

At one stage SA had the technical expertise to do this sort of work itself. That expertise has now been lost (or should I say frittered away), and now we are a technological colony rather than a leading edge player.

I remember when overseas 'experts' used to come to SA and gape in surprise at the expertise here.

No more.

I just wonder how much cheaper it would be if we still retained the ability to design and construct our own desal plants and pipelines?

No one left in SA now that can tell us, so it is a moot point I guess. In matters water, SA now no longer knows how much it does not know.

[Will]

Updates from Woodhead International:

Construction on South Australia’s Desalination Plant progresses

The Woodhead designed Desalination Plant has commenced construction in Port Stanvac, South Australia. Woodhead’s commission is for the design and documentation of the architecture for 15 buildings on the site.

With documentation complete, construction has commenced on more than half of the buildings with steelwork and precast concrete currently being erected on site.

A common thread linking the 15 buildings is their precast concrete facades, chosen for durability and low maintenance. Several concrete textures are proposed using a combination of plain off-form flat panels, sand blasted panels and exposed aggregate panels using a retardant. The different panels are used in a designed random pattern that makes reference to the gently sloping topography to sit the buildings well in the landscape.

A light warm colour is used for most of the concrete panels to better relate the architecture to the landscape. Darker panels at the base will visually float the wall mass and further break down the scale of the buildings.

The administration building coloured glass curtain walls add visual interest and create a focal point on the east side of the main building.

A visitor centre building has rammed earth walls with different coloured earth bands that reference the stratification in the nearby cliffs.

The Woodhead design team used an “integrated industrial design” approach to ensure that the plant met the requirements of a significant work of public architecture, as well as a state of the art water processing facility, with the architectural and landscape design contributing significantly to the winning bid.

The “integrated industrial design” approach ensures that the related disciplines of masterplanning and architecture, landscape design, interior design and graphic and wayfinding design are integrated to provide a unified, cohesive and sustainable design which blends into and enhances the existing site.

This seamless architectural and landscape response minimises visual impacts from both close and long range views and builds on the intrinsic qualities of the natural coastline to provide a considered response to the environment and natural heritage of the site.

Located at Lonsdale, near Port Stanvac, the $1.8b 100 GL desalination plant will deliver up to 100 billion litres of water each year which is half of Adelaide’s water supply. The project includes a transfer pumping station, transfer pipeline and a visitor centre.

The plant is currently under construction and it is anticipated that “first water” will first be delivered via the plant in December 2010, with the plant to be fully operational in late 2012.

[skyliner]

Looks like the hiils next door need ther water now. BTW in the last photo - are they houses in the bottom right corner? In JAn I went for a'tour' of the site as best could be done and did'nt notice any houses that close.

SA - STATE ON THE MOVE

[Aidan]

Looks like the hiils next door need ther water now. BTW in the last photo - are they houses in the bottom right corner? In JAn I went for a'tour' of the site as best could be done and did'nt notice any houses that close.

No, they're not houses. I think the ones right in the corner are the RSPCA, and all the rest are industrial buildings.

[skyliner]

Thanks mate!

SA - STATE ON THE MOVE

[zap brannigan]

if we harvested the murray river floods like the following proposal there would be no need for a desal plant.

http://www.nationbuilder.com.au/assets/ ... fault.html



there would be many new dams and pipelines around adelaide and a new super weir on the murray along with a second barrage on the lower lakes.

[rubberman]

Interesting concepts.

Did anyone calculate the evaporation from all those open storages?

And given that we can't even keep Lake Albert full now.......

[zap brannigan]

initially flood waters would be pumped into large area shallow lakes next to lake alexandrina and the murray river... from here the water would later be pumped to a new set of dams thru the hills that are long and deep to cut back evaporation.

[rubberman]

Hi Zap,

I appreciate what the principle is, but do you have any numbers?

Since there has been no water going out of the mouth for a very long time - in fact it has been emptying Lake Albert you can see that exact numbers for evaporation losses are critical to the feasibility of any sort of scheme like this.

Evaporation is the likely killer of any storage scheme.

[Aidan]

It's certainly an interesting website, but it seems to be based on a solution (large diameter pipes) looking for a problem. And as solutions go, it looks like a very inefficient one, because it relies on floods that could be decades apart. It's every expensive (probably much more so than desalination, the cost of which is likely to fall substantially over the next few years). And considering the amount of upstream storage capacity that now exists, it seems silly to build another lock in a location that would result in bigger floods in Mannum.

As for the lake names, the only thing sillier than naming South Australian lakes after a phenomenon that occurs at the North magnetic pole is creating two different lakes the name Lake Katharina!

And while the idea of pumped storage with seawater might be quite a good one, some of the locations proposed are geologically unsuitable and could result in salinization of aquifers.

[crawf]

Man dies in industrial accident at Adelaide desalination plant
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/man-dies- ... 5892813584

A MAN has died in an industrial accident at the site of Adelaide's desalination plant at Lonsdale.

The accident happened at the Port Stanvac plant some time before 3pm.

A spokeswoman said police patrols and ambulance crews are at the scene.

There were unconfirmed reports that one other person has been injured in the accident.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner and SafeWork SA officials will also investigate.

The desalination plant, which will eventually provide up to half of Adelaide's water supplies, is due to start operating later this year.

MORE TO COME.

[AG]

Money woes threaten Adelaide's desal plant

* Political Reporter Sarah Martin
* From: The Advertiser
* February 12, 2011 12:00AM

ADELAIDE'S $1.8 billion desalination plant is in jeopardy amid a major dispute between SA Water and the builder.

An SA Water report seen by The Advertiser states construction group Adelaide Aqua believes it has lost its profit on the project and is now threatening to sue SA Water and South Australian companies to recoup its losses.

It also wants all future deadlines and penalties waived for the already-delayed project and has threatened to withdraw cooperation if its demands are not met.

SA Water is now seeking assurances from Adelaide Aqua, a joint venture of construction giants McConnell Dowell and Abigroup, that the project will be delivered and no future financial claims will be launched against the Government-owned organisation. The SA Water documents also state that Adelaide Aqua has:

THREATENED to orchestrate industrial strikes or construction slowdowns if its demands are not met by SA Water.

THREATENED ambit claims against SA Water.

MISMANAGED the project's time and costs and is under-resourced for the remainder of the program.

INTIMIDATED SA Water when threatening legal action against South Australian companies to recoup losses.

REFUSED a $10 million offer of waived penalties from SA Water in exchange for a guarantee of no further claims against it and an assurance of project delivery.

DEMANDED relief from future penalties if it fails to meet project milestones, including handover of the 50-gigalitre plant.

Adelaide's desalination plant was initially meant to first produce water in December 2010, but twice has been delayed and is now scheduled for July.

The documents show that SA Water analysts have determined further delays of about five months are possible because of a range of problems with the construction program.

SA Water chief executive John Ringham denied the organisation had been threatened, saying the ultimatums were part of normal business dealings.

"That is a commercial negotiating position that you would expect to hear from contractors. We hear this day after day - 'if you don't do this, we will do this' ... there is nothing there that we see as a threat, it is a position," he said.

"I have words with senior people in the Adelaide Aqua consortia where they talk about the potential where there may be some claims, but that is not a threat."

Mr Ringham confirmed the $10 million relief had been offered in exchange for assurances of project delivery, but he would not reveal further details of the proposal.

"When you are in a commercial situation you work through the things you believe you can allow in return for something from the other party," he said.

"Every day we look for reassurance that they are delivering the project. I'd be remiss if my staff were not assuring themselves every day that we were making progress, it is a normal practice."

He also said there were contractual conditions in place to prevent the contractor walking away and he was not concerned by claims Adelaide Aqua was running at a loss.

"Contractors will always claim they are not making any money because their margins are small, but they are still in business," he said.

Mr Ringham also said that he did not expect claims on SA Water for further funds, but he had "no control" over them launching a claim.

"I can't ask them to stand up and say 'we have no further claims' . . . because I don't know what is going to happen in the next 18 months, nor do they. There may be a justifiable reason why they should be paid some extra money.

"But it is not in their interest and I believe they understand it is not in their interest to spend money launching claims on things they know they are unlikely to get."

He also insisted the project was well managed despite admitting there had been "heated discussions" between the two groups.

Adelaide Aqua spokeswoman Bernie Auricht refused The Advertiser's request for an interview with project director Duncan Whitfield.

"We're not in the position of answering outrageous claims which will be borne out in the select committee and you will find out that a lot of those things are just completely ridiculous," she said.

Water Minister Paul Caica referred questions on the project to SA Water and said he was "satisfied" with its management of the project.