The Australian government was a bit more at ease at the end of November. The eastern half of the country had above-average rainfall for the month - quite a departure from months before, where some sections of the country set drought records. In the state of Queensland, the weather outlook for the current (Southern Hemisphere) summer was better than it was a year ago, but the entire country remains quite dry. It's a drought that's set 100-year records.
In Queensland, however, the government is attempting to drought-proof the state with three advanced water treatment facilities and impact a region with the fastest population growth. The Western Corridor Recycled Water (WCRW) project will provide the needed water far into the future in this eastern portion of the country. As part of that project, the first of the three facilities is the Bundamba Advanced Water Treatment (AWT) plant that began service in September to try and head off water scarcity in the months and years to come.
"Drought has made water supply?a huge issue to the residents of Queensland and Australia in general," says Gerry O'Toole, regional director of EPC Engineering. "This is hardly surprising given that Level 6 water restrictions have recently been introduced, which mean control on the filling of pools, yards and gardens can only be watered with buckets during allocated times and automobiles can be washed with a bucket only to spot clean mirrors, lights, glass and license plates." He notes that everyone has an opinion on water scarcity and water reuse. "Australians have concluded that the climate has changed and that drought will be the norm going forward," he says.
Perhaps most important to the project is that it is completely devoted to sustaining the water supply. "The plant has been designed to minimize as much as is practicable the use of energy and chemicals," O'Toole says. "The plant has been designed to cause minimum impact on local residents as well as indigenous wildlife. Mitigation of noise pollution has received particular attention."
The Project's Purpose
"The WCRW Project involves?relieving the pressure on traditional stored water reservoirs - such as the major reservoir at Lake Wivenhoe - by using purified recycled water to serve the needs of the power stations," O'Toole says. "However, the WCRW Project goes further. Due to the severity of the drought, it has been necessary to make provision in the AWT plant design to enable the purified wastewater to be used for indirect potable reuse - IPR - by allowing it to be used to replenish Lake Wivenhoe, which has seen unprecedented low levels of storage in the past two years."
No Claims or Blames
The entire project is an alliance among the Western Corridor Recycled Water Company and the joint venture of Black & Veatch (B&V) and the Australian construction company Thiess. "The alliance works because of an inherent 'no claim, no blame,' culture," O'Toole says. "The project risk is considered from several perspectives - technical, legal and commercial, for example - and each identified risk is placed with the party who is most able to mitigate that risk." As an example, he says community acceptance is the owner's responsibility, but delivery schedule issues are a B&V/Thiess responsibility. Overall plant performance and costs associated with performance issues are shared among all parties.
As a result of this partnership, a risk/reward mechanism is part of the project. "A target cost - TC - is established as early as possible, and the alliance works to deliver the project within [that cost]," O'Toole says. "If the outturn cost is different from the TC, the parties share the financial risk or reward to an agreed formula." He notes, however, that construction commencement doesn't depend on the TC agreement. But cost overruns are shared among all members of the alliance if they occur. "What is generally at risk is each party's profit up to an agreed limit," O'Toole says.
The Design-Build Advantage
"Of course, a major benefit of design-build is that it shortens delivery schedule," O'Toole says. "The alliance approach takes this further as work can start even before the TC is established." As an added benefit, alliance member selection is based on experience as well as ability to work together. The alliance approach itself has allowed the Bundamba AWT Plant to be delivered faster than would have been possible with other forms of delivery. But he says this isn't enough to do the project right.
The plant design had four focus areas: performance ability, constructability, equipment delivery and start-up ease. "The design had to incorporate all of these considerations to enable fast-track project delivery, so while various types or brands of process equipment would have met performance requirements, specific equipment was selected based on these four considerations," he says. Above ground tanks, and "skidded encased pre-treatment membranes" and "large-diameter RO membranes" were a result of this approach. And O'Toole adds that precasting was maximized and used whenever possible, with additions such as pre-fabricated electrical switch rooms. This also limited vendor site work.
"The Thiess-led construction team and the Black & Veatch-led start-up team were engaged from day one to review the design," O'Toole says. "The alliance was led by an integrated alliance leadership team, made up of senior professionals from the Australian government, Black & Veatch and Thiess."
The Alliance Difference
"The alliance approach to delivering water/wastewater design-build projects has not been used in the U.S. yet, and the owner and design-build contractor have a very contractual relationship," O'Toole says. "The majority of the risk tends to rest with the design-build contractor." In addition, he says, capital cost becomes an important selection factor when choosing a design-build contractor. "While it is only right that owners should obtain best value for money, total cost of ownership and sustainability are much more appropriate metrics in evaluating design-build solutions for water/wastewater projects," he adds. "The alliance delivery method is a relatively new approach and results in alignment of project objectives from the outset - owner, design-build contractor and the community - in a less adversarial relationship and results in the best project outcomes."
For the Bundamba project, he says, this contributed to a high degree of schedule compression, and that Black & Veatch hopes to see the alliance approach is used more often in the United States.
Challenges Down Under
Understanding local standards and realities of the location prove challenging in the outback. Particularly, design codes and standards are sometimes different, and the fact that some materials are unavailable in the country can contribute to diversions from the construction project schedule. O'Toole says this actually contributed to a "greater understanding of the advantages of other design approaches and alternative materials."
Applying a global design-build experience to projects will only improve them. "To our credit, Black & Veatch lives this," he says. "Wherever possible, professionals from across the Black & Veatch integrated global workforce come together so that the best available resources are applied to each particular project. This brings together different perspectives, promotes innovation and allows our clients to tap into a world of expertise."
INFO: Black & Veatch (www.bv.com)