Challenge the client faced:
The Cranbrook Water Treatment Plant (WTP) is located in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia, and currently supplies drinking water to 175 services, for a population of 273 people. The upgrade works undertaken by WestWater were required to provide enhanced treatment of the local water source and to cater for forecast future demand.
Water tankering had previously been required at the site in response to poor water quality events. The existing tankering procedure required bulk dosing with chlorine tablets that sometimes resulted in chlorine non-compliance within the Cranbrook reticulation system.
Solution provided:
The new water treatment facility that WestWater has designed and constructed has the capacity to deliver peak daily flows of 247KL within a 16 hour daily operating timeframe.
The new treatment process consists of pH correction, pre-filtration, Ultrafiltration (UF), Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, chlorination and pressure boosting.
The new WTP also includes a large 60 kL Filtrate Water Tank as additional storage to the existing 200kL High Level Tank.
Conclusion / project outcome:
The most important project driver was to minimise the risk to the water quality of the drinking water supply due to pathogen contamination.
The new treatment process means the water supply to town will meet the requirements of Water Corporation’s Manual for Surface Water Treatment for level 4 source classification.
In addition, the population in Cranbrook is forecast to reach 283 by 2040, meaning an increased plant production rate is required to meet the 2040 projected peak demand of approximately 247kL per day, which this new WTP is capable of delivering.
