Fire Recovery Project Wins Two National Awards

23 June 2009 

Goulburn Valley Water was recently awarded the best water and wastewater project and project of year at the PACE Zenith Awards in Sydney.  The project was titled “How to Restore a Fire Damaged Water Treatment Plant in Five Days.”

Goulburn Valley Water was up against nine other projects to win the Water and Wastewater category and 53 other finalists for the Project of the Year Award.

Goulburn Valley Water’s Managing Director, Mr Peter Quinn said that the project was in relation to how the Corporation rebuilt the control room that operates the Kilmore Water Treatment Plant after it was totally destroyed on Black Saturday.

“The control room housed all the electrical switchboards, control systems and chemical dosing components for the Kilmore Water Treatment Plant,” said Mr Quinn. “We had to get this up and running again as quickly as possible because we were unable to produce potable water for Kilmore, Wandong and Heathcote Junction and we only had five days water supply in storage.”

Mr Quinn said that this project is an excellent example of an engineering/disaster recovery project.  “Although the five day duration was only short, all typical phases (planning, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning) of this type of project were experienced and executed extremely well under difficult circumstances.”

“Winning the PACE Zenith Award provides national recognition to all those involved, including staff, contractors and vendors, in the restoration of the Kilmore Water Treatment Plant,” said Mr Quinn. “It highlights the skills and dedication found in the water industry that we see every day, but others might only appreciate under circumstances like these. It is very reassuring to know that in times of crisis our people respond brilliantly – this award underscores that.”

PACE Magazine editor, Ms Sarah Falson said “The team at Goulburn Valley Water pulled together in the face of adversity to complete a top-notch, world-class process control project. “The company’s ‘How to restore a fire damaged water treatment plant in five days…’  project was a prime example of the extreme climates that Australian engineers must face every day. The group executed the repair work professionally and quickly, using its expertise to ensure the affected towns could continue to access clean water. PACE magazine commends the team at Goulburn Valley Water for its foresight, project management and engineering excellence – each of which contributed to an exceptional, standalone engineering project.”

The PACE Zenith Awards are national awards established by Process and Control Engineering (PACE) magazine in 2004.  The awards publicly recognise companies that show leadership in engineering and technological excellences and innovations.

Project of the Year award sponsored by Schneider Electric (L-R Ryan McGowan, GVW Operations IT Coordinator, Darren Cox, GVW Technical Officer Process Control and Wendy Minne’ Schneider Electric Executive General Manager – Power.)

Water and wastewater award sponsor Siemens (L-R Ryan McGowan, GVW Operations IT Coordinator, Murray Lyster Siemens Executive Manager Sales – Industry Solutions, Drive Technologies, Industry Automation and Darren Cox, GVW Technical Officer Process Control)

Authorised By P.A. Quinn, 104-110 Fryers Street Shepparton