Severn Trent Services for Australia water treatment project

Birmingham, UK – Severn Trent Services (STS) is to supply an filter underdrain system for the Mundaring Water Treatment Plant (WTP) in the Perth area of Australia – the first public-private partnership water project of its kind in Western Australia.

The plant will have an initial capacity of 165 million litres/day and a maximum capacity of 240 million litres/day. Construction on the project began in the second half of 2011, and the plant is to commence operations in July 2013.

The contract for the filter underdrain system was awarded by the Helena Water consortium, which comprises ACCIONA Agua, United Utilities Australia, Brookfield Multiplex and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Helena Water is designing and building the facility and will operate the plant for its owner, Water Corp., the principal supplier of water, wastewater and drainage services in Western Australia.

The system will be based on STS’ TETRA LP Block technology – described as “a dual, parallel lateral underdrain system constructed from HDPE moulded blocks that distribute both air and water for either concurrent or sequential backwashing.”

The system’s lightweight construction make it suitable for both new and retrofit filter underdrain applications, said STS. The nozzle-less design, it adds, avoids blockages that could potentially affect the performance of the filter.

The underdrain filters also feature a patented design that increases resistance to uplift from the filter floor and offers twice the pullout strength of a conventional underdrain filter block, the company further claims.