In 2020, Franklin Harbour District Council implemented a new 23km gravity-fed water scheme to supply up to 200kL of water a day to a large remote farming area north-west of Cowell in South Australia, overcoming challenges around a mountain range separating the area to the connection point.
The scheme had to deal with the fact that the farming area was separated from the closest SA Water connection point by a substantial mountain range, and that the SA Water connection site and mountain range both had limited existing infrastructure and connectivity.
Monitoring and automation solutions company Station Innovation helped the Franklin Harbour District Council implement the scheme. Station Innovation’s equipment is made to operate reliably in harsh Australian conditions, even without external power or connectivity.
To solve these problems, the Council designed a multi-stage pumping operation that pressure feeds water 2.2km from the 40mm SA Water connection point via a 100mm PVC pipe to a 200L base tank and pump station (tanks $26k, sheds $5k) at an elevation of 80m.
From there, water is pumped a further 4km to an intermediate 200kL tank and pump station at elevation of 180m, and finally to the Apex 500kL tank station at an elevation of 283m. From there, it is gravity fed for 23km to connect farms to the mains water supply.
Critical component of the water scheme
Station Innovation’s EcoSAT remote monitoring and control units are an essential part of this innovative scheme. The pumping stations, each with two (Xylem Lowara GVH20/15SV11, $32k) pumps in a duty/standby mode, cannot be operated using pressure switches due to the high (100m) static heads inherent in the system.
Instead, tank levels and pump operations have been monitored and controlled without fault for over three years using Station Innovation’s EcoSAT remote SCADA system (VFD controllers and SCADA $86k).
Operators view the level, status and history of each tank and pump online, and remotely control pump operations and adjust alarm (high and low) trigger levels.
This sponsored editorial is brought to you by Station Innovation. For more information on Station Innovation and its remote monitoring and control units, please visit stationinnovation.com.au or contact 1300-781-134.
