Seqwater has completed a significant package of works at the historic East Bank (Mt Crosby) Water Treatment Plant to ensure a continued safe, secure and reliable water supply for the greater Brisbane and Ipswich areas.
Seqwater Chief Executive Officer Peter Dennis said the East Bank water treatment plant, which originally opened in 1882, was an essential part of Seqwater’s water supply network, providing all of Ipswich city’s water and about half of Brisbane’s supply on an average day.
To complete the critical works, the plant had to be shut down for three days, which was the first time in over 50 years that this had occurred at East Bank.
Mr Dennis said shutting down and fully draining a plant of its size in order to achieve the necessary isolations to undertake the works, was a significant undertaking.
“The works were necessary to replace and maintain ageing infrastructure and improve the plant’s operability, reliability and safety,” Mr Dennis said.
“It’s no simple matter to take such an essential piece of the bulk water supply network offline and the temporary shutdown of the plant followed months of careful planning to ensure water supply was maintained across the whole network.
“To minimise disruption to the water supply network, staff worked in rolling shifts around the clock from June 2 to 4, completing a number of different projects at the same time.
“Despite being a highly complex project, with numerous skilled trades working to a tight schedule, the project was completed without a hitch.”
Mr Dennis said the work would help ensure continued high water quality as well as the safety of staff operating and maintaining the plant.
“A key component was the replacement of valves to improve water and flow management,” he said.
“Sludge plant flow control and measurement was completed to improve the ability to manage the flow and volume of water travelling through the plant.
“We also took the opportunity to undertake some initial work in preparation for the installation of a new lime system in the future.
“Other maintenance and inspection works were also undertaken while the plant was offline.”
A new roof was installed on the high level reservoir prior to the shutdown of the plant.
“The heritage-listed reservoir was built in 1882, with a floating roof installed around 30 years ago.
“This floating structure has now been replaced with a fixed roof, which will improve water quality.”
“The Mt Crosby Historical Society was consulted throughout the project to ensure it went smoothly.”
