SEQ water grid - sewage water tank has almost 200 leaks ...

Image - Brisbane Times.

Excerpt from Brisbane Times:

Tank puts hole in water grid

30 May 2008

Almost 200 leaks have been discovered in a new $2 million water tank that is part of South East Queensland's $9 billion water grid network.

The damaged tank is supposed to play an key role in pumping recycled water into the region's drinking water supplies.

It has been out of action for weeks and will not be repaired until late June.

Now one Queensland water grid company, the Eastern Pipeline Alliance, is taking legal action against the manufacturers of the five-megalitre water tank near Ipswich.

The leaking tank has been built at the Goodna Pump Station in Lower Cross Street, Goodna and holds treated wastewater from the Goodna Wastewater Treatment Plant before pumping it to an advanced treatment facility at Bundamba.

The network is part of the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project (WCRWP) which is responsible for pumping 66 megalitres of recycled water to Wivenhoe Dam by this summer.

However, the success of plans to cut water consumption in South-East Queensland has already cut the supply of recycled water to 41 megalitres per day.

A spokesman for the WCRWP declined to confirm how much the faulty tank had cost, or how much had been spent on repairs, however it is understood the leaks were discovered when the tank was filled for testing.
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"The tank is being bypassed while it is out of service. Water from the Goodna Wastewater Treatment Plant is being pumped directly to the Bundamba plant."

He said the damaged tank was used to "regulate the peaks and troughs of waste water" rather than pumping waste water directly to Bundamba.
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A source close to the work site said the tank had been built by a Victorian firm, who won the tender for the project.

The source described it as a "total system failure" that had 198 leaks.

See - Brisbane Times - Tank puts hole in water grid.