Western Australia

In June 2009, the $74.5 million Harvey Water Pipe Project in Western Australia’s southwest was completed.

The project involved 174 km of high and medium density polyethylene pipeline, in place of open irrigation channels to deliver 30 per cent – 17.1 GL – of water savings annually to be transferred via water trade to the Water Corporation on a permanent basis.

The Western Australian Government has since committed to another irrigation upgrade – the Gascoyne Irrigation Pipeline.

The 36–40 km high density polyethylene pipeline will have a diameter of 600 mm and will replace an existing irrigation pipe of a similar length and diameter which supplies water to horticultural industry along the Gascoyne River.

Gascoyne Water has also said that it has plans to extend the length of the pipeline in the future. At the time of writing, clear and grade works had begun for the 20 km, 1.4 m diameter water transfer pipeline associated with the Binningup Southern Seawater Desalination Plant.

The pipeline will run between Binningup and Harvey, linking the plant to the Integrated Water Supply Scheme. A pump station will be constructed at Ravenswood.

The companies making up the Southern Seawater Alliance are Tecnicas Reunidas, Valoriza Agua, AJ Lucas and WorleyParsons. The desalination plant will begin operation in 2011.

The Barrambie Borefield Pipeline will supply 2.5 GL/a of water to Reed Resources’ proposed Barrambie Vanadium Plant, located in the mid-west, which will be supplied from a borefield located approximately 20 km to the northwest of the site on the Sandstone to Meekatharra main road.

The 450 mm water supply pipeline is expected to be constructed in the second quarter of 2011.

Victoria

In April 2009, Ron Wilkins Constructions completed a 16 km, 225–300 mm diameter water pipeline connecting Chiltern and Wodonga, located in northern Victoria, for North East Water.

Wannon Water completed construction on a 29 km water pipeline running from Casterton to Coleraine, in western Victoria in January 2010. The 200 mm diameter pipeline connects the towns of Coleraine, Casterton, Sandford and Merino to the Tullich groundwater supply system.

At the time of writing, the 70 km Sugarloaf Pipeline was undergoing commissioning. The pipeline runs from the Goulburn River near Yea to the Sugarloaf Reservoir in Melbourne’s northeast, and is expected to be complete in early 2010.

Throughout 2009, Mitchell Water has continued work on GWMWater’s Wimmera Mallee Pipeline Project (WMPP), located in western Victoria. Over 8,000 km of pipe has been laid. The project involves an 8,800 km pipeline network, consisting of seven supply systems, which will replace around 18,000 km of open irrigation channels covering an area of around 2.5 million hectares.

Mitchell Water is currently completing construction of supply systems 3 and 6. The project is on target for completion in the first quarter of 2010.

Construction of the 52 km Hamilton– Grampians Pipeline, located near Cavendish, Victoria commenced mid-year. The 375 mm diameter pipeline will transfer up to 2 billion litres each year from Rocklands Reservoir in the Grampians to Hamilton’s water supply system. At the time of writing, 80 per cent of the pipeline had been laid, with completion expected in April 2010.

The AquaSure Consortium, consisting of Thiess, Suez Environnement, Degrémont and Macquarie Capital Group, were awarded a contract to construct the Victorian Desalination Plant in August.

The project includes construction and operation of the 150 billion litre plant to be located at Wonthaggi, as well as a 72 inch diameter, 82 km transfer pipeline to connect to Melbourne’s existing water network. Clear and grade has commenced with pipelaying scheduled to begin in February. First water from the plant is to be supplied at the end of 2011. Nacap has been awarded the contract for the construction of the transfer pipeline.

The Bendigo to Castlemaine Pipeline is part of a proposed 65 km pipe network upgrade for the Harcourt area. It is scheduled to begin in February 2010, with completion expected in September 2010.

New South Wales

EcoCivil completed construction on the 29 km Moruya to Deep Creek Dam Pipeline, located near Bateman’s Bay in New South Wales, at the start of 2009.

The pipeline has a diameter of 600 mm, which allows 34 ML/d of water to be pumped through it. The pipeline is part of the $50 million Eurobodalla Water Treatment Facilities Project.

McConnell Dowell, as part of the Water Delivery Alliance, completed the 18 km, 250 ML/d pipeline that transports water from the new desalination plant to Sydney’s established water grid in August.

The pipeline includes 7.1 km of twin 1,400 mm pipeline that runs across Botany Bay, 6.4 km via microtunelling and 4.5 km via traditional open cut installation.

In July, the Goulburn Mulwaree Shire Council engaged GHD to manage the design and construction of its Highland Source Project, which includes an 83 km, 300 mm diameter pipeline linking Goulburn to Sydney’s Wingecarribee Reservoir. Construction will occur in two stages and should take two years to complete, commencing mid-2010.

In September, the Tumut Shire Council announced that it would apply to the New South Wales Government for funding to construct a 17 km, 200 mm diameter water pipeline to run from Tumut to Adelong.

Planning on the project commenced in October and construction is scheduled to begin in the 2010–11 financial year. No contractors have been engaged for the project, but it is expected that tenders for the pipeline materials will be called for soon.

In December, John Holland was selected to construct the Gosford and Wyong city councils’ 19 km, 1,100 mm diameter Mardi-Mangrove Link Project, which will run from Mardi Dam to Bungaree Creek Dam.

A 2 km link from the Wyong River to the Mardi Dam is included in the scope of the project, as well as two new pump stations and associated works. The pipeline is scheduled for completion by mid-2011.

ACT

In March 2009, the ACT Government approved the construction of the approximately 20 km Murrumbidgee to Googong Pipeline and pump station. It is expected that construction will begin in February 2010, and that the pipeline would be operational mid-2011.

Queensland

In July, the $50 million Rockhampton to Yeppoon Water Pipeline project reached a milestone with the laying of the final contracted pipe work that connects the Rockhampton and Yeppoon water supply service. The pipeline consists of a 34 km pipeline of 600 mm diameter and a 12 km pipeline of 750 mm diameter. Pipelaying was conducted by the Rockhampton Regional Council and Bailey Civil Contractors.

Moody Civil and Pipeline completed construction of SunWater’s 38 km, 450 mm diameter Cloncurry Pipeline in November 2009. The pipeline interconnects with Sunwater’s existing North West Queensland Pipeline to deliver up to 1,500 ML of water.

In addition, SunWater has said that works on the proposed Connors River Dam and associated water pipelines, located approximately 100 km east of Moranbah, could start as early as 2011.

Approximately 130 km of large diameter pipeline will carry approximately 45,000 ML/a of water to the Bowen Basin.

The Toowoomba Pipeline Alliance – consisting of Clough, WDS Ltd and Maunsell AECOM – completed pipelaying on the Toowomba Pipeline Project, located in Esk Shire, for LinkWater Projects in November 2009.

The project involved the design and construction of a 38 km pipeline and a pump station with an initial capacity to deliver 200 ML/a of water from Wivenhoe Dam to Toowoomba’s Cressbrook Dam.

The Northern Pipeline Interconnector (NPI) Stage 2 will be approximately 48 km and extend from the existing NPI Stage 1 Landers Shute Water Treatment Plant at Eudlo to the Noosa Water Treatment Plant near Cooroy on the Sunshine Coast.

The Northern Network Alliance – made up of Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), Abigroup, McConnell Dowell, and LinkWater Projects – will construct the project.

NPI Stage 1 transfers unused water from the Landers Shute water treatment facility near Eudlo on the Sunshine Coast to the Morayfield water reservoirs, where it will link with the existing Caboolture and Brisbane water supply network.

South Australia

The Lower Lakes Pipeline Network’s main pipeline running from Jervois near Tailem Bend to Langhorne Creek and Currency Creek was completed and commissioned in November 2009. The 105 km pipeline measures 200–1,000mm in diameter with a series of connecting pipelines with diameters from 25–30 mm.

An 11.5 km transfer pipeline was recently completed, running from the Port Stanvac Desalination Plant to the Happy Valley Water Treatment Plant. Desalination water is pumped through the pipeline to Happy Valley, where it will be combined with water from the treatment plant before entering the existing water supply network.

A joint venture between McConnell Dowell and Built Environs constructed the pipeline.

Up to $7.34 million will be used to fund two potable water pipeline extensions to Point Sturt and Hindmarsh Island. The first proposed pipeline is an 11 km extension branching from the Milang – Clayton Pipeline to Point Sturt on Lake Alexandrina. The second pipeline is a 12.6 km extension from an existing main servicing the Hindmarsh Island marina precinct in the southwest to the eastern side of the island.

The two pipeline extensions are expected to be completed in early 2010.

A 14 km potable water pipeline will be constructed from Young’s Well to the remote indigenous community of Pukatja as part of the Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program.

Pukatja is located 30 km south of the South Australia/Northern Territory border in the Musgrave Ranges. The pipeline is expected to be constructed between April and September 2010.

BHP Billiton has released a draft environmental impact statement for the expansion of its Olympic Dam mining project, located in northern South Australia.

A 320 km water pipeline has been proposed to connect Olympic Dam to a potential coastal desalination plant located in Point Lowly on the Upper Spencer Gulf. The pipeline is to supply 200 ML/d of water to the plant.

In January 2010, the City Green Alliance completed construction of the Glenelg to Adelaide Park Lands Pipeline project. The 32 km pipeline ranges in diameter from 250–750 mm, and provides recycled water from the Glenelg Wastewater Treatment Plant to the Adelaide Park Lands and city gardens.