Low River Water Contingency

Constructed in 2016, the Hamilton WTP Low River Contingency works (portable pump station) were to provide additional resilience to the Council during low river conditions that inhibited water treatment operations. Since the completion of the Low River Contingency work, there has not been the need to mobilise the equipment and as a result the Council Operations team do not hold the required operational readiness to ensure a smooth and safe deployment of the portable pump station if and when required. Additionally, as recommended in a detailed design report in 2015, the purchase of an additional 2no. submersible pumps are required to provided N+1 redundancy.

The Council needed assistance to develop a revised operational readiness plan, provide additional redundancy of pumping failure and future flow requirements, and undertake a trial deployment and operation of the low river pump station during the 2020/2021 summer period.

Additional challenges for Neuflow Projects were:

• Although the Neuflow Project's project manager had awareness of the pump station and its components, there was limited experience of how each of the components were to be assembled.
• Several trees that were not causing an obstruction in 2016 had now grown to a point that any crane lift was hindered. Further to this, native bat colonies were known to inhabit that area therefor a bat assessment required to be completed prior to any pruning of trees could take place.
• Securing a mobile crane that was capable to lift the 40-tonne pump station the required distance into place in the river and to ensure a skilled operator could lift each element over existing structures and place into a high-flowing river.
• The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects to the international supply chain international was at its greatest. To test the pump station to its full design capacity, an additional 2 pumps were required to be purchased and installed along with the necessary pipework – it was unknown as to why these pumps were not installed as part of the original 2016 construction.

• Utilising industry relationships developed across previous projects, the Neuflow Project Team formed a strong project team consisting of plant operators, crane operators, specialist dive teams, ecologists, mechanical fabricators, and regulator partners to ensure a smooth and successful project.
• Strong relationships with key suppliers allowed all pumps and electrical components to be procured directly, saving significant money to the Council, whilst ensuring expedient delivery in a difficult shipping environment.
• With the pump station not being deployed and operated to its design, safety was a critical aspect to the project especially due to the hazards involved with the crane lift and installation of the temporary infrastructure in the river environment.