With many areas of Australia facing severe drought, water pipeline planning and construction has again thrived over the last year.

The Australian Government has acknowledged the challenges faced in ensuring sustainable water supply in the face of a drying climate and rising demand for water, responding with a Water for the Future Plan. As part of the $12.9 billion plan, the Government announced that it would invest $254.8 million in more efficient water infrastructure, and refurbishment to older pipes and water systems.

State governments have reacted similarly providing funding for many water pipelines under construction. Here, The Australian Pipeliner takes a look at how water pipeline infrastructure in Australia has developed over the last year.

Victoria

Goulburn-Murray Water has awarded a $179 million irrigation infrastructure upgrade contract that will see the development of as much as 170 km of pipeline infrastructure. The contract was won by FutureFlow, a consortium comprised of Transfield Services, Comdain Civil Constructions and Sinclair Knight Merz.

Goulburn-Murray Water said that the program involves two main pipeline components to begin construction this year. The 450 – 1,400 mm diameter, 27 km Katandra Gravity Pipeline has been approved and is expected to complete construction by August, while the 250 – 1,200 mm diameter, 51 km Shepparton East Pressure Pipeline is undergoing the pre-approval process for completion in December.

In addition, Goulburn-Murray Water has commenced construction on a 27.5 km pipeline network that forms part of the $14.5 million Lake Mokoan Diverters Pipeline Project to transport water from the Broken River to irrigators following the decommissioning of Lake Mokoan. The pipeline, which ranges in diameter between 100 – 575 mm, is expected to be completed early this year.

Following the completion of the project, Goulburn-Murray Water will also fund the construction of a further 24.5 km pipeline to supply water to Thoona and district.

Supply Systems 1, 2, 5 and 7 have been completed on the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline Project. The pipeline network is to replace around 18,000 km of open irrigation channels in western Victoria. Staged construction of the project, through a number of contracts, is expected to be completed by early 2010.

Mitchell Water is continuing construction at Supply Systems 3 and 4 and has recently been awarded the contract to construct supply system 6. Mitchell Water has constructed all supply systems on the project except Supply System 5, which was completed by Nacap Australia.

John Holland Group began construction on the 1.75 m diameter, 70 km Sugarloaf Pipeline, which will connect the Goulburn River north of Yea to the Sugarloaf Reservoir in Melbourne, despite numerous obstacles affecting the project throughout 2008. The pipeline will transfer 75 billion litres of water to Melbourne each year from 2010. The project has been surrounded by political wrangling and opposition by sections of the community.

In Bendigo, the $47 million Epsom to Spring Gully Water Recycling Project, which includes a 14.5 km pipeline, reached completion in November 2008. The project will provide approximately 4,000 ML of water a year to Bendigo amenities via the pipeline.

Water also flowed through the 87 km Ballarat leg of the Goldfields Superpipe for the first time in May, marking the completion of the $180 million project six weeks ahead of schedule. The Superpipe has the capacity to transfer up to 18 billion litres of water from Sandhurst Reservoir near Bendigo to White Swan Reservoir near Ballarat.

The $98 million Bendigo leg of the Goldfields Superpipe was connected in August 2007 and will transfer up to 20 billion litres of water each year to the region via a 46.5 km pipeline.

The Victorian Government approved the Anglesea Borefield Project in September last year. The project will involve the construction of eight groundwater bores, a pre-treatment facility and a 20 km pipeline of 600 mm diameter to transport the water to Barwon Water’s Wurdee Boluc Reservoir.

Leed Engineering has completed construction on a $5.2 million, 29 km water transfer pipeline from the Casterton Water Treatment Plant to the township of Coleraine. The ductile iron and PVC pipeline system has a 200 mm diameter and includes a pump station at Casterton and a surge tower at Muntham Hill.

In April 2008, Wannon Water released a detailed route for the $30 million Hamilton to Grampians Pipeline. The 53 km pipeline, which has a diameter of 375 mm, will be located largely on private property between Rocklands Reservoir and the existing pipeline on the Dunkeld-Cavendish Road, southeast of Cavendish, where it will connect to the existing Grampians Headworks Pipeline.

Construction is expected to start in April 2009, with water expected to flow down the pipeline by mid-2010. Wannon Water said that tendering and appointment of the construction contractor for the ductile iron cement-lined pipe is scheduled to take place by March 2009.

Turning to the east, the Victorian Government has released a short-list of syndicates for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of a desalination plant and pipeline near Wonthaggi in the Bass Coast region. Victoria’s $3.1 billion desalination plant, the largest in Australia, will be delivered as a Public-Private Partnership, which includes construction and operation of a desalination plant and an 85 km transfer pipeline. The pipeline construction contract is expected to be awarded mid-2009, with construction to be completed by 2011.

Queensland

The construction of the Gladstone to Fitzroy Pipeline Project was awarded to a joint venture between Clough, Diversified Construction Corporation and United Infrastructure. The 115 km pipeline will run between the Fitzroy River and Gladstone via the proposed Stanwell to Gladstone infrastructure corridor.

The Rockhampton Regional Council is constructing a pipeline to run from Rockhampton to the Capricorn Coast. The project will secure water supplies for the Capricorn Coast communities via the construction of two pipelines: a 600 mm, 34 km pipeline and a 750 mm, 12 km pipeline. The project is scheduled for completion in November 2009.

In May 2008, the Queensland Government and SunWater committed $3 million for a feasibility study into a 130 km water pipeline from the Burdekin River to Bowen. If approved, the pipeline will pipe more than 60,000 ML/a of water into the Bowen region from the Burdekin Falls River as part of the Water for Bowen Project.

Approximately 400 km of the South East Queensland Water Grid reached completion in 2008, with key features including the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project; Southern Regional Water Pipeline; Northern Pipeline Interconnector Stage 1 and the Eastern Pipeline Interconnector.

The Western Corridor Recycled Water Pipeline Project involved purified water from the Bundamba Advanced Water Treatment Plant being pumped to the Swanbank Power Station near Ipswich, and the Tarong Power Station, located 195 km northwest of Brisbane. Luggage Point and Gibson Island Advanced Water Treatment plants are also connected to the project via 80 km of pipeline.

The $901 million Southern Regional Water Pipeline is a potable water pipeline that links the Mt Crosby Treatment Plant to Molendinar on the Gold Coast and includes five pump stations, four reservoirs and 11 tunnels.

The project includes the Northern Pipeline Interconnector Stage 1 and the Eastern Pipeline Interconnector. The 47 km Northern Pipeline runs between Landers Shute Water Treatment Plant, Landsborough and Morayfield Reservoir, Caboolture. The 8.6 km Eastern Pipeline links Heinemann Road Reservoir, Redland and Kimberley Park Reservoir.

The $1.2 billion Gold Coast Desalination Project reached completion in September 2008, connecting the plant to a reservoir at Worongary through 25 km of pipeline.

An alliance of John Holland Group, Gold Coast City Council, Queensland Government, Veolia Water, Sinclair Knight Merz and Cardno was contracted to construct, operate and maintain the Gold Coast Desalination Project, located in Tugun, Queensland.

Stage 2 of the South East Queensland Water Grid projects set to be constructed from 2009 onwards include the Northern Pipeline Interconnector Stage 2 (to connect the grid to the proposed Traveston Dam), the pipeline to supply Toowoomba and the proposed Traveston Crossing and Wyaralong Dams.

In preparation for Stage 2, an alliance of Clough, Diversified and Maunsell has been selected as preferred proponent for the $200 million Wivenhoe Cressbrook Pipeline Project, located in Esk Shire. The project, to be managed by the State Government’s bulk water transport authority, LinkWater, involves the design and construction of 37 km of pipeline between Wivenhoe Dam and Cressbrook Dam. The pipeline is expected to reach completion in December 2009, before being commissioned and fully operational by the end of January 2010.

New South Wales

The Gosford-Wyong Council Water Authority Board has agreed upon a recommended pipeline route for the final section of the 21 km Mardi to Mangrove Link Project. The 1,100 mm diameter pipeline will run from Mardi Dam and finish at Bungaree Creek Dam, using the existing Bunning Creek tunnel as part of the overall water pipeline.

Construction of the Mardi to Mangrove Link Project is expected to start in late-2009 with final commissioning in early 2011.

The Water Delivery Alliance commenced the construction of Sydney Water’s 18 km, 1.8 m diameter steel pipeline connecting the Kurnell desalinsation plant to Sydney’s water supply system at Erskineville. The pipeline will cross Botany Bay and then mostly travel through open space and industrial areas. Construction is expected to be complete by December 2009.

The Water Delivery Alliance is comprised of Sydney Water, Bovis Lend Lease, McConnell Dowell, Kellogg, Brown and Root, WorleyParsons and Environmental Resource Management.

Approvals for the Bega Borefields to Yellow Pinch Dam Pipeline were progressed throughout 2008. The project is aimed at resolving the problem of reduced water levels in the Yellow Pinch Dam, which has experienced a gradual reduction in water levels as a result of the decline in available water from Tantawanglo Creek.

Recommendations for the transfer system involve constructing a 19.8 km, 450 mm diameter ductile iron pipeline to run from the South Bega reservoir site to the existing Tantawanglo pipeline near Yellow Pinch Dam.

South Australia

Leed Engineering and Construction has begun building a $50 million project involving two pipelines supplying water to Lower Lakes’ communities. Approximately 120 km of pipeline will deliver water from Tailem Bend and Strathalybyn to Langhorne Creek, Raukkan, and Narrung and Poltalloch Peninsulas, with first water to be delivered to communities by early 2009.

The Langhorne Creek and Currency Creek irrigation communities are also working with the Government on a separate Murray Futures project to build a pipeline to supply irrigation water to the region by the 2009 irrigation season.

SA Water has awarded a joint venture between Built Environs and McConnell Dowell the contract for the Port Stanvac Desalination Plant transfer pipelines to connect Port Stanvac and the Happy Valley Water Treatment Plant.

Two pipeline corridor sites have been selected by SA Water, which vary between 12.5 km to 15 km in length. An Environmental Impact Statement for the desalination plant and associated pipelines was released in November 2008.

In September 2008, construction began on the Glenelg to Parklands Pipeline Project that will carry treated wastewater into Adelaide’s central business district for irrigation, industry and property developments. Up to 5.5 billion litres of recycled water will be delivered through the 40 km pipeline network as part of the $75 million project. The start of the project was brought forward from early 2009, with recycled water to be delivered to the parklands in mid-2010.

Western Australia

The Water Corporation of Western Australia has named the Southern SeaWater Alliance (SSWA) as the preferred consortium to build and operate the Southern Seawater Desalination Project. The SSWA syndicate comprises AJ Lucas Group, WorleyParsons, Tecnicas Reunidas and Valoriza Agua.

The pipeline specifications are yet to be released. However, the project scope provided to the Environmental Protection Authority released in October, included the construction and operation of a 100 GL desalination plant, marine inlet/outlet pipes and a 30 km water supply pipeline of 1.4 m diameter, to transport potable water to the integrated water supply scheme via a proposed storage facility near Harvey.

AJ Lucas said that the plant, located near Binningup to the south of Perth, will be constructed in stages with work to commence in 2009, for operation to begin in 2011. The total construction cost is estimated at approximately $1 billion, together with a 25 year operations and maintenance contract.

In July 2008, the GFR Group completed construction of the 150 km Grey Mare bore-field water pipeline. The $60 million pipeline, commissioned by Minara Resources, is the longest large-bore plastic pipeline built for mining operations in the state. The pipeline will carry water from Grey Mare Station to the nickel mine at Murrin Murrin. GFR connected 20 bores and pumps so that the average pipeline volume of 12 ML/d of water could be met.

Earlier last year, a 44 km water supply pipeline starting at Geraldton was completed, securing future water supplies for the Northampton region. The pipeline was constructed for the Water Corporation by a joint venture partnership between Transfield Services and Sinclair Knight Merz at a cost of $20.8 million.

The Water Corporation has selected two potential pipeline corridor routes for a pipeline linking Northcliffe to Pemberton. According to the Corporation, depending on the route adopted, water could be largely gravity fed 30 km from Pemberton, minimising energy requirements.

Tasmania

The federal Government will fund the construction of two pipelines in Tasmania as part of its $10.5 million commitment to the South East Tasmania Recycled Water Scheme.

The project, being developed by the Clarence City Council, will deliver water to the existing Coal River irrigation area. The first 7 km pipeline will connect the Rokeby sewage treatment plant to the existing Coal River Recycled Water Scheme. The pipeline is planned to have a diameter of 375 mm, with design decisions pending.

A second 6.5 km, 600 mm pipeline will connect the existing recycled water scheme to a new storage dam that will be constructed in the Richmond area as part of the project. This will enable the storage of recycled water when demand for irrigation purposes is low. Works are expected to be completed by 2011.

The 35 km planned water pipeline associated with the Gunns Limited pulp mill in Longreach stalled after the Tasmanian Government scrapped plans to fund the pipeline and the West Tamar Council voted against granting an easement over council-owned land. The pipeline was to supply water to the pulp mill from Trevallyn Dam to Bells Bay and is estimated to cost $60 million.

A Tasmanian Irrigation Development Board was established last year to facilitate urgent water developments, including development of a $32.4 million pipeline system.

The Forth River pipeline system will transport 19,000 ML/a of water by pipeline and waterways from Hydro Tasmania infrastructure (Lakes Parangana, Paloona, Barrington or Cethana) to areas with demand for additional water for irrigation.

Australian Capital Territory

Last year, a Bulk Water Alliance was formed between Actew, GHD, and contract alliance partners John Holland and Abigroup, to develop water security for the ACT including a 15–20 km pipeline to run between Murrumbidgee and Googong.

The pipeline is planned to be approximately 1 m in diameter, enabling the transfer of up to 100 ML/d of raw water, which will aim to solve long-term water supply issues in the ACT.

This pipeline will run from Murrumbidgee River near Angle Crossing (close to the southern-most border of the ACT), and transfer to a pipeline running via the Burra district to Googong Reservoir.

Water for the future

The number of water pipelines either under construction or in planning bodes well for the future of the water pipeline industry. In particular, drought-ravaged Victoria and Queensland look set to continue to develop water infrastructure in order to sure up water supplies for the states’ population.

Both the Queensland and Victorian Governments are constructing an integrated water pipeline grid in order to service each state. It is possible that in the future, other state governments may also consider developing such networks to secure water for their populations.

In addition, new developments such as the desalination plants being constructed in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, will spur the development of pipelines.