November 3 2020

Rode into work this morning, worked a day shift: Water Treatment Plant and then rode home again in the afternoon.

Discharged one press and did a clothwash on the other, in the Sludge Plant.

The scaffolding was removed from the Sedimentation Tank today. Check this post from September 10 for comparison to today's image.

The drain valves have been overhauled and the concrete inspected, so it's time to refill.

The process of draining the tank for annual maintenance has been underway since late July.

Now we're coming into the warmest part of the year in the Southern Hemisphere, it's time to bring it back online so we can use it.

Demand for drinking water is highest during summer, unsuprisingly, and we will need to use both our Sed Tanks at that time.

We've already had a taste of summer this Monday and Tuesday when the temperature topped 28 and 30 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The demand for water over that 48 hour period jumped up by approximately 130 million extra litres per day, compared to the average during the 6 months prior.

This is why the annual maintenance is done during winter here: it's when we can afford to run the plant at half-capacity.

No word yet on when the refill will actually begin, but it's coming up soon.

I'll know when it's time because I'll be the one opening the inlet valves — all ten of them — by hand.

😹

I was busy in the Sludge Plant today so I haven't seen if the Mechanical Fitter's have finished installing the pipework and valves for the new ACH dosing pumps.

Won't be far off now though.

I mention this because, the ACH trial will commence with the refill.

That means, the raw water going into this Sed Tank from the reservoir will be dosed with Aluminium Chlorohydrate as the primary coagulant instead of Aluminium Sulfate.

Interesting times ahead!

...

Tomorrow 👍