Perthville Flood Levee Pump Station

Scope

In September of 2019, the Bathurst Regional Council along with Hynash Group approached QMAX to assist in the detailed design, control methodology, supply, install & commissioning of two flood levee pump systems in Perthville, NSW, a small town just outside Bathurst. The town has been historically subject to heavy flooding during rain events, and thanks to QMAX this threat has been minimised. At two separate locations in the town QMAX installed a large Vertical Axial Flow pump and penstock valve for flood mitigation. These pumps activate automatically based on flood water levels to pump-out 1500L/s at 4m head.

Challenges

The systems were to be installed into a purpose-built pumphouse on a flood levee wall to prevent any further flooding in the town. Incorporated in the flood levee bank, each pumphouse has a large, motorized penstock valve, which are set in the open position to allow rainfall in the area to naturally flow through the pumphouse, into Queen Charlotte’s Creek, and on to the mighty Macquarie River. When the Macquarie River has an imminent flood warning, council operators close the penstock valves and enable the pump systems at both ends of Perthville.

The pump control system has a Vega radar level sensor, monitoring the level inside of the pumphouse. Rainfall within the flood levee catchment area raises the water level in the pumphouse, starting the pumps on a variable speed drive, discharging water over the flood levee bank at a rate of around 900L/s, through a 700mm discharge pipe. As the level continues to rise, the pump speed increases via variable speed drive delivering the full performance of 1500L/s – a rate that would fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in less than 30 minutes!

It was great to work with Hynash Civil Contractors and Bathurst Regional Council on this project. A considerable shift from our normal project type of waste water infrastructure, this project proved that QMAX has the skill and expertise to adapt to any project demands.