Water treatment comes in many different forms and it is all based upon where the source of the water is coming from and to what specification that water is then to be treated to, which all comes down to the desired intent for the water and the demand/volume of it required.
Mayfair Plumbing and Gasfitting’s staff have had global experience with water treatment, projects most people will never experience in a life time and we are now lucky enough to be able to pass these year’s worth of knowledge and experience onto our customers in Australia and around the world.
A couple of the mile stone projects our staff have had the benefit of been involved with through their overseas experiences in the water treatment/filtration field are:
Baker Lake, Nunavut, Canada
The fresh water source for this plant was from a lake which is frozen for at least 8 months of the year, in order to successfully get water to the filtration plant year round 2 x 4 inch intake pipes had to submerged deep into the lake (approx. 250 feet), these were encased inside of 2 larger 16 inch insulated diameter pipes to protect the intake lines from freezing. The plant would then take water in from the lake via 2 x Stainless Steel Torpedo Style Grundfos pumps (on skids so they can be removed for any type of maintenance) and put the water through the filtration system which comprised of 4 parallel silica sand filters to allow back washing of 1 whilst the others still filtered water, the water would then pass through 2 x parallel UV filters for redundancy and a calcium hypochlorite dosing system. There is also a chlorination system which doses the water before and after storage of the water on site.
The water is distributed to the community via 2 x truck fill arms which allow the water trucks to then disperse the water to the 1900 people in this Inuit Community. The water treatment plant also comprises of internal and external diesel fuel tanks which provide a source of fuel to the 3 boilers. The boilers are used for heating glycol transfer pipes which circulate the glycol around the plant and also the back wash tank and truck fill arms to stop the freezing of these systems when temperatures can dip to minus 55 degrees Celsius. The pumps can deliver 1,200L/min (72m3/hr) of raw water from the lake to the plant and the fill arms are capable of being operated manually or remotely.
Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, Canada
The water source for this project was a creek and the plant needed to be designed so that it could deliver 60 USGPM (327 m3/day) to the K2 mine site where they are sourcing potash from deep below the ground. This treatment plant was designed to meet the potable water requirements of Alberta Environment, in order to achieve this the following methods where used: coarse filtration via 50 micron basket filters, ultrafiltration by eight parallel hollow fibre membrane units, Water R.O. (reverse osmosis) via 18 membranes, Caustic Soda Injection and Chlorine Disinfection. This plant was constructed in British Columbia (BC), Vancouver where it is fully tested and commissioned before it is then transported via road to Esterhazy.
This particular water treatment plant was all delivered inside of 2 x 40 foot shipping containers on skids so that the water treatment plants can be relocated at any time via truck or large dozers. Given the extreme temperature differentials experienced in Esterhazy insulated panels where installed to the walls and ceilings and spray on foam insulation also applied to the underside of the containers. At the time of commissioning on site there where 2 staff members from the mine site which were trained on the day to day checks required for this plant and also the long term maintenance required to keep the plant running at maximum capacity.
Whatever your water treatment needs and requirements are Mayfair Plumbing and Gasfitting can help you, we can supply staff for short periods or long term, we can help you with your water treatment plant design and on site installations including final commissioning, routine scheduled maintenance on your water treatment plants, we specialise in remote location work and extreme conditions, fly in fly out and overseas operations. Finding a plumbing company who has experience with complex water treatment and filtration plants is now easy, please contact us today and discuss your water treatment requirements from anywhere around the globe.