Sunshine Coast hosts Operations Conference

While much of the East Coast shivered, the Sunshine Coast was hot with exciting papers, tapping competitions, and outstanding exhibitors at the 2024 Queensland Water Industry Operations Conference and Exhibition.

Hundreds of people and exhibitors returned to the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) Stadium in late July 2024. The warm weather in the area encouraged people to take advantage of the better climate for a two-day event dedicated to the operations industry. The Water Industry Operations Association of Australia (WIOA) held its largest Queensland event to date on the Sunshine Coast and drew over 800 attendees to the exhibition.

Many arrived early to attend the UniSC Water Batter Plant and Lake Tour. UniSC and Veolia Queensland worked together to operate this hour-long tour, during which the tour group was taken around to explore the broader facility. Rather than a traditional battery, UniSC uses a thermal energy storage tank, mostly consisting of water. The water, once chilled using the power of the sun, is used in air conditioners across the Sunshine Coast campus, resulting in a massive leap towards the university’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2029.

The following day began with the popular Women of Water Breakfast. This preceded the opening of the exhibition on the floor of UniSC Stadium, the home of the Sunshine Coast Lightning netball team. With players’ banners fluttering in the breeze, hundreds flowed onto the arena floor to explore the range of products and services available to the industry.

Upstairs, the McBerns Paper Room was in full swing. The first speaker was Rhett Duncan, the Executive Manager for Customer Delivery at Unitywater, who opened the conference with a rousing speech. Next was Mat Greskie, the Chair of the Board at WIOA. Greskie welcomed all the attendees to the conference and wished them the best.

Water of Origin

An annual highlight of the event is the IXOM Water of Origin title, a fun and exciting way to raise awareness of drinking water quality in Queensland and New South Wales. The competition seeks to recognise the efforts of local water service providers in delivering valuable water services to their communities.

Held just days after the third State of Origin fixture for the year, Rous County Council and Fraser Coast Regional Council went head-to-head for the 2024 title. The Water of Origin winner claims bragging rights over the other state for the next 12 months.

Water samples are judged according to the Water Tasting Wheel, which outlines some of the attributes that water professionals use when judging water, such as colour, clarity, odour and taste.

Rous County Council, represented by the Nightcap Water Treatment Plant, and Fraser Coast Regional Council, represented by the Burgowan Water Treatment Plant, were selected after winning the 2023 Queensland and New South Wales best-tasting tap water competitions in 2023. Ultimately, Nightcap Water Treatment Plant claimed the title for New South Wales by just a single point.

The competition has been running for eleven years, and the current score is now seven to four, with New South Wales gaining ground against Queensland’s lead.

Paper presentations

19 papers were presented over the two days, covering a broad range of topics.

One paper of particular note came from the NSW 2023 Best Paper Winner, Steven Buck, from Icon Water. He was up early on the first day to discuss the improvements implemented at the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre (LMWQCC). Located west of Belconnen in northern Canberra, the LMWQCC was built in 1978 and is Canberra’s principal wastewater treatment plant. The plant removes gross solids using three-millimetre (nominal) screens and a dedicated grit removal system.

Because it had not been holistically upgraded since its initial construction, Buck sought to modernise the existing grit removal system with contemporary approaches. They included computational fluid dynamics (CFD), minimal scaffold construction, and contemporary online solids measurement instrumentation. The upgrades to the grit-capture and transport systems saw a dramatic decrease in the manual labour needed to maintain the system while significantly improving the reliability of the grit pumping and downstream solids handling systems.

Main Tapping Competition

Another event that attracted attention was the Mains Tapping Competition, an opportunity for water operators to showcase their skills. WIOA has long worked with Reece Civil to conduct this competition in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. The winners get their names on a perpetual trophy and the opportunity to nominate a local charity for a donation.

The City of Gold Coast maintained its winning streak, having won every year of the competition’s run in Queensland.

So how does it work? Two teams of two people compete in time trials, with a maximum of eight rounds held. With a focus on safety, each team must complete a safe work method statement before the competition starts. They also wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), which includes long sleeves, long trousers, gloves and safety glasses.

With all the necessary tools and fittings, each team needs to complete a 20-millimetre water tapping on a 100-millimetre ductile iron pipe (DICL), including a water service and a stop valve. Teams must carry out an under-pressure tapping through a tapping ferrule and pressure tapping ferrule (TPFNR), connecting a length of poly pipe and a ball valve. The teams need to install the tapping band and ferrule on the pipe and are responsible for turning the water back off at the ball valve and returning all tools to the toolbox before the timer stops.

There are penalties for leaks at the service connection, tapping that does not go through the pipe wall, not getting water from the service, and not placing all tools back in the toolbox. The fastest time wins the two-day competition.

What’s next?

The inland city of Tamworth will host the 16th New South Wales Water Industry Operations Conference & Exhibition in November. Abstracts are due soon, and there are still opportunities to exhibit at the event.

For more information, visit wioaconferences.org.au