Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Power and Water's Senior Manager Service Delivery Water Services Eric Boyle

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with Power and Water's Senior Manager Service Delivery Water Services Eric Boyle · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, if you live in Catherine, you may be aware
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: or you may not be aware. But Power and Water
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: has developed an emergency management plan in the event that
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Catherine River has a sudden inflow of runoff water that
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: could impact the quality and the ability for it to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: be adequately treated to the required drinking water standards. So
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: what does this all mean? Well, Power and Water's senior
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: manager of Service Delivery Water Services, Eric Boyle, joins me
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: on the line right now.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Eric, Good morning Katie. How are you not
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: too bad?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Eric?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: What's the situation with the water supply in Catherine.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: So, just as you've explained, we're anticipating that we'll have
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: a frost flush event with the initial rains that we're beginning.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: We've got a little bit of rain yesterday, but not
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: enough to causes any consound But if we do get
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: a significant rain, we'll get a first flush. We call
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: it of dirty water down the river, which the Catherine
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: residents are probably quite familiar with. Unfortunately, if we don't
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: get follow up rain, that water causes that first flush,
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: causes water to become contaminated and we're not able to
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: treat it with the surface water treatment plant that we
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: have there at the moment.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: And so what does that mean. You've obviously got to
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: have a bit of a backup plan.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we've been. We've been flat out since early October
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: putting together several options. And during that process, one of
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: our operators and Catherine, came up with the fantastic idea
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: of utilizing some of the equipment that we've already purchased
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: for the new treatment plant that's been constructed in Catherine,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: connecting it up temporarily and allowing us to use that
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: to treat sufficient water to maintain supply to the Catherine community.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Right, And so is this something that happens every year, Eric, The.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: First flush happens every year, but it's not been it's
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: been a number of years since we've had one that's
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: caused as concerns. And as you may be aware, the
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: the if the event had happened in the past, we
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: would bring a bores on and therefore nobody would under
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: nobody would appreciate that there was an issue. We continue
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: on with supply, but because the aquifer has been contaminated
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: with pfas and we've not been able to use that
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: water supply to its.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Full extent, right, So it means that you've obviously got
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: got that other concern with the boor so not able
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: to use that as you back up, And so is
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: it quite a difficult process what you know potentially could
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: have to go through.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: I'm going to say it's extremely difficult. But we've got
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: some fantastic people on board. They've been working really hard
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: over the last three to four weeks to make this
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: solution come to light, and it's all in place now,
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: it's been tested and we've now got a reliable source
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: or a reliable tenant source should this event happen in
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: the next couple of weeks.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: And I mean, is it ever a situation where you
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: could potentially, you know, run out of water or not
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: be able to utilize water. Have you ever been in
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: that city situation before? And is there a backup for
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: your backup if required?
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: We've got a backup for our backup. We've got packaged
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: water sitting in Catherine now, which we would normally do
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: at this time of year. Anyway, we've got other areas
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: where we may need packaged water, so we went ahead
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: and we purchased some of that. We've got that in
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: storage and a compound in Victoria Highway, So that's the
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: backup to the backup. But we're comfortable that the solution
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: that we've implemented now will be what will come on
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: train if there is an issue with the Catherine River.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: And what's the long term solution is.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I think you mentioned before that there is going to
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: be a new water treatment facility built at some point.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: That's correct. We've, as I said before, we've borrowed a
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: couple of the primary filters from the new plant, so
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: all that equipment's ready to go. We're just working through
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: the construction process, which will continue on into next year.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: By that time, this temporary solution will no longer be
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: require and we can relocate that filtration equipment into the new.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Plant and Eric at the moment the water is safe
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: to drink, it's fine to drink at this point.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, you know it will continue to be safe to
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: drink as well. We've got significant sampling rasiume in place
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: which will implement for this new filtration system as well.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: So yeah, at all times, we'll guarantee that we'll be
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: within this year and drinking water guidelines as far as
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: the water is concerned.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Well, we really appreciate you having a chat with us
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: this morning.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that plenty of residents of Catherine a place
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to hear that there is not just one backup plan,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: but two we've required, and that Power Water is well
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and truly onto this.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, and thanks to the community. I know this
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: has been an unselling time for them. There's been a
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: lot of rumors going around and we hope that the
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: solution that we provided is going to put those concerns
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: at ease.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we really appreciate you having a chat with
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: us this morning.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Eric, Thank you, no problem, Thanks Katie, thank you.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: That is Eric Boyle there. Here's Power and Water Corporation's well,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the senior manager of service delivery for water services, and
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: no doubt there have been some concerns in the community,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: but they have got that back up now in place,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: and then they have also got that additional contingency in
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: place should they require. There is water being stored as
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: part of the cyclone and storm season preparedness, but hopefully
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: they won't need to get to that point.