Solutions for Wastewater Treatment and Recycling in Australia

With increasing stress on the importance of reusing and recycling wastewater, businesses across Australia have been focusing on making their wastewater solutions authority compliant. Industries such as mining, vehicle wash down bays, workshops and service stations all require high quality waste water management solutions in order to maximize their efficiency and be within environmental regulations.

Australian water authority policies require that pretreatment devices are installed to reduce the quantity of pollutants in the water being discharged in these industries. Many industries are also trying to make sure that their wash areas are AQIS (Australian Quarantine Inspection Services) compliant, which requires a specific set of solutions such as those described below:

Oil water separators use a variety of technologies including coalescing, VGS, hydrocyclone, induced cyclonic and below-ground solutions and are used in a range of applications from wash bays to mining and in meeting AQIS requirements.

Low cost water recycling systems that reduce water and trade waste costs are available throughout Australia for industries such as mining, industrial processes, carwashes and vehicle or equipment wash down applications. These generally incorporate the latest and most efficient water recycling filtration and separation technologies and even come with features that enable you to track your system from anywhere in the world.

First flush diversion systems ensure that unroofed wash down bays are authority compliant. Also known as storm water diversion valves, these are designed to treat wash water in accordance with authority regulations and discharge rainwater to storm water valves after a designated amount falls on the wash pad.

Rain water harvesting systems on the other hand capture and treat storm water from roofs and ground surfaces and use water for wash down, irrigation, dust suppression and site activities. These provide a cost effective and low maintenance alternative to water recycling.

Sewerage and storm water pump stations are solutions that are suitable to applications such as basements, caravan parks, shopping centres, townhouse and apartment complexes, industrial estates, municipal applications and rural developments. They are usually pre-plumbed and pre-wired, making installation easy.

pH control systems are designed to measure, control and regulate pH levels and have a variety of measurement and output options. They are usually supplied as pre-plumbed solutions complete in an IP65 enclosure system and are easy to integrate into your existing infrastructure.

Belt oil skimmers and floating oil skimmers are used by mining workshops and other heavy industrial applications to remove floating oil and debris from water. These oil skimmers save costly process and production changes and are generally easy to install with minimal ongoing maintenance required.

Hydrocarbon treatment systems are needed for difficult to treat oily water mixtures when discharge standards are very high, such as in mining workshops and wash down bays, power stations and transformer bunds. Removal of oily water is expensive and costs can be slashed by removing hydrocarbons from waste water prior to discharging to the environment.

Treating and reusing wastewater not only reduces pressure on high quality water but also results in significant savings on energy and cost.

Clean water produces a complete range of water harvesting and recycling solutions that can save up to 80% costs of water consumption. Learn more!

Grease Trap Is Not Just a Dirty Word!

A Grease traps (grease arrestor) does as the name implies – traps the fats, oils, solids and grease from reaching a municipalities’ sanitary sewer system. They are required by Authorities and by regulation. They must be installed on the sanitary wastewater and are required from the kitchen waste fixtures of restaurants and other commercial shops as may the governing Authority dictate. Contact the governing Authority prior to purchase of a grease trap interceptor as they will determine their size, type, minimum periodic frequency required to clean them out, and whether the manufacturer and particular model has approval by them under their area of jurisdiction. The grease arrestor is strongly recommended on all commercial kitchens or high grease waste producing fixtures that is to be connected to a septic tank system. This is to maintain the septic tank function and minimize pipe blockages from occurring. It does not take much to kill the bacteria in the septic tank system, resulting in high septic tank pump out frequencies. We strongly recommend the use of the plumbing services professional. This will ensure:

• that soil waste is not mixed with the grease wastewater.
• Ensure correct grades and falls
• Greasy waste does not solidify in the pipe.
• Approvals with authorities, periodic maintenance cleaning and access requirements
• Correct ventilation is installed to the system.
• All installation recommendations are subject to the approval of the local plumbing code authority.
• The use of the correct materials due to the corrosive nature of grease waste

The grease trap is an important part to get right as one of the plumbing services!