MIDCOAST Water will push ahead with a half million dollar upgrade of the Gloucester Water Treatment Plant following the release of the full report into last month’s contamination of the town water supply.
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Acting general manager Brendan Guiney said the $532,000 project had moved into the design phase following approval of a concept report presented to the April meeting of the MidCoast Water board.
The works will include the replacement or renewal of aged and failing mechanical valves, the installation of automatic online water quality analysers and replacement of some electrical equipment.
The plant’s chemical dosing systems and improvements to work health and safety outcomes are also planned.
Meanwhile, Hunter H2O has handed down its final report on the contamination of Gloucester’s town water supply with high levels of chlorine last month, with equipment failure being blamed.
Hunter H2O determined hypochlorite had been syphoned into the clear water reservoir at the Gloucester Water Treatment Plant causing the contamination after the plant had been shut down.
Mr Guiney said the report had listed improvements that could be made by MidCoast Water in operating its systems.
“These include improved modelling of what is a very complex system, more analysis of the data that is collected at plants and a focus on preventative maintenance,” he said.
“The board were also presented with a comprehensive action plan that has already started to ensure all systems are reviewed and improved.
“Actions were undertaken at the Gloucester plant in the days following the incident to ensure there was no possibility of a repeat.”
The acting general manager said Hunter H2O had also praised MidCoast Water’s response to the incident.
“(They) indicated to the board that ‘the response by the executive and staff was exemplary’ once the incident was recognised,” he said.
“The investigators did comment positively on the way we communicated during the incident, the rebate of $50 which will be provided to all customers on their next account and the actions of our staff and board for meeting with the Gloucester community.”
MidCoast Water said the full Hunter H2O report would not be made public “due to privacy of staff, some residents and sensitive operational info on our business systems”.
“The executive summary is public and formed part of our business papers for the board meeting this week,” a spokeswoman said.
