It’s been a little more than 10 months since the Detection Services NO-DES unit rolled out of the Morayfield workshop of Brisbane Isuzu. Since then, it has worked its way across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, working with various utilities to clean and disinfect water mains of various sizes. We have cleaned, to date, more than 100 kilometres of water mains, and as the unit becomes accepted by progressive utilities as a viable and effective alternative method of cleaning water mains, the NO-DES unit has become increasingly productive and effective. Initially, we were flushing around two kilometres per day; however, we are continuing to make significant strides in outputs without compromising quality.
We have certainly learnt a lot about its capabilities; for example, we know that by supporting the planning of a mains flush and working with clients to understand the locations of valves and hydrants, we can achieve significant rates of cleaning per day. This has been a significant learning curve for us and our clients, and we have reaped significant benefits when using such a collaborative approach. Our average daily clean using the loop approach, as depicted above, can see around 5.5–6 kilometres cleaned daily.
We have removed significant levels of sediment and biofilms from water mains of varying sizes, and have seen great results removing turbidity and increasing chlorine residuals, as the NO-DES unit can also add a residual back into the network safely and methodically.
The use of the NO-DES unit provides significant benefits: no water is wasted during the process; there is no environmental discharge to plan and cater for; the system remains online, keeping customers in supply; and the unit is portable and simple enough to establish without significant traffic control and customer interface.
With support from the client, the NO-DES unit can easily achieve flows of more than 120 litres per second; it’s able to clean water mains at a velocity of more than 1.5 metres per second. A recent project at a busy airport in Queensland saw flows of 122 lires per second removing sediment and biofilm from a 415-millimetre water main and providing a chlorine residual upon completion. The unit was so successful in removing the biofilms that it’s due back in a few weeks to flush more assets for the client.
The technology and our collaborative approach to mains cleaning is now becoming accepted by forward-thinking utilities as a useful and effective tool when dealing with issues such as nitrification, elevated turbidity and low chlorines. The unit itself can be mobilised very quickly, and is completely self-sufficient. We can be on site within 24 hours of your call, and in most cases, even less.
If you would like a presentation on our approach, or even a demonstration showing how the NO-DES unit can support your efforts and reduce waste and environmental discharge more effectively than traditional methods, please give us a call on 1300 772 835.
