East Alligator district centre water supply assessment : Kakadu National Park
D . Pidsley
Jamieson, M.; Pidsley, D.; Paiva, Jerome
E-Publications; E-Books; PublicationNT; Technical Report ; 26/1991
1991-02-26
Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).
Date:1991
English
Water-supply -- Northern Territory -- Kakadu National Park; Groundwater -- Northern Territory -- Kakadu National Park; Kakadu National Park (N.T.)
Power and Water Authority
Darwin
Technical Report ; 26/1991
1 v. : ill., maps ; 30 cm.
application/pdf.
Check within Publication or with content Publisher.
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/229020
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/673451
Technical Report WRD91026 Viewed at 15:07:48 on 29/07/2010 Page 106 of 107. cq;)pttr ~n !:.~ .. l(;h 3 ign it iC.:H,t .lI.'!OJ.nt3 or: OR =r.J.Ss cue.. <l.r& 'lSecl ~ere o.:.llt in f;lipes ..u"!! replaced ~it..'1 t!."<P09ed C'...:ns. Cocras1on resistant HWS CC8t. J{) to ~O\ \mrs than conventional units i.e. -a.boJt $400 more at cu...-.:ent prices for a noz:mal hOJ!'!lerold uni t .. Metoll plumbing in .rrcst hCU5E!5 is considered sus-ped:. .aM will :n::::st likely rf!quire eaplacmant in .a relatively shott time.. C:msaquently,. it has been considered mra econcmic and practical. to convert existin; t:uildi~ to ccl:rrosion resistant plt.."!1bi~ tJ-.an to install """"t:mnt plana to ccooition t!'le water. I.n 3Ut\ttIar'l the int~c~iorl of correa ien resistant. naterials has resulted in cost penalties for !:ore instal..lati;ms am storage taMs. l'8tiallatiDn.m:! b=., plt.mlOi~ costs have ranained: abcut the sane rut plurabin; ccsts shOlld reduce .as PB oecaftltS rore aoceQted .. Ccrrcs.icn proble:ns wre evident I~ith f:."1e coastal bore supplies fran the aJtsee, l:ue having any sort of ;;or'"...able water ""Wly wa" a been to llCSt cccmmities.. Reqular am preroature failures of conventional ~nents io.I8J:e ini.tially acCle9ted as ;l fact of life.. !o'.aintenancs arra.nqenants pregress; vely illI;>rCMld as supplies becaDe regarded as essential and wre cpE!rated tJl'1der the owt"S i'lht of .",..""",nt departments ""ther !:han I::\' independent ca=ity gr=s. Inaccessibili!:y to bore sites and. in s:.:m! cases, the co:rmmity itself for lorq periods during tha wet .season also ~haSised the need for more reliabili:.y. !t was only when th<t incidence ofsystal\ failures becClTB unbearable and """"""1",, "",tar wastage observed that .. ooncetted effort was put into oolvi~ the root of the problom and not just deal.i~ '~ith the S'tlt9tans. Maintenance of the bore installations has been a major d!ffirulty .m:1 corrosion resistant mterials ha.... been int...""Oduced Qanerally as maruf a=e", offered illI;>rCM!d ccm;x:ments proven in other locations. !he intrcduction of plastic mater'..als of =truct::on cruld be regarded as the lD:)5t siqnificant factor in eliminatin; l'Oi!lf1'{ of the difficulties of construction .100. naintenanca of the remotely located systems .. ~les are: ~Fru' bor. casing .00 coJcmns: LJ.ghblei'lht.m:! t'"elatiwly easy to asserole.,. an:::f noncorrea ille ~ !"it: reticulation pipes: Ligbl:Wt!i'lht and rol:ust to trans;;ort 1o~ distances over umaee reads; li<;ht to handle for laying, thus t"eGucinq plant ard r.anpcr.rer raquiranents: easy to W().rX on fot" maintenance and systEm extensions; and non-corrosive. t'B 00t and cold water plumbir.q k'ipe: tJ.ghtWltiQ:lt: mini..-rum oi teals. lEl1J'f11 of skill r"ElqUl.reC Eot' repait3 .and. malntenance not .as hi.gn ~ for ccnwnt,:,oMo1.L systems: a.nd nonCOrra!SlW,. ~e extreme cotu::aivity of m- coast4l ~tars is cile to the acidity p>:odtx:ed by high cooceneraticns of fr.... ~2 In solut~on cOJpled witll ""ty lew al.l:allnltles. !hq!t VE!C]etation ~ rate dlrin; the we~ s~ with correspondingly nigh CO:1, root res,llr:'tlOn, into the soil air in aquifer lntake areas u; belleved to be the = of the CO2, '!he lade of react:ive carbonate material. in the aquifer stata results in the lew alkalinities .. Corrcsian of rore installations has been cvercane by the use of stainless steel ptlIlps (in ...,neral.l, stainless .steel screens, and fibre reinforced plastic casinc;;s .Ird co h:ms .. Corrc:sion of galvanised iron, ccppet:' am b~s pl\m!bin;;r has been accelerat~ "t7:! !:he. p~x;;ressl.ve inL~ion of wnOSlon !"eSl.Stant pU'; retico..ll.ation aa~. Prior to. this, reaction ~th corrcdat::ll.e materlals, 9Ut1c.1larly AC malrlS,. significantly reduced the aggressiwness of the ""tel:." to halsei>old pluroing. Bica.rtanate dosing to OXldition the ;..rater ~ not comidered practical h ..... i~ ::e;ard to operatlonal difficulti.... related to camIJl1ity isolat:ion and raroteness factaC3 .. For hot .m:! cold water plclrbing within I:"lldings poly:t::utylene an::! dezincification rusi.st~nt brass has been adopted as the best CO",,,:.Hon resistant ~tion ... Solar hot wa.ter 5ernces wit..;' adequate cor=t:Sicn resistance are kr.cr;.n:t to l:e avail.able fran Solarhart, 'Ihe.::m::max and Beasley... ~/Etr, no satisfactot'"'j' electric units appear t:o be available. --c Corrosion resistant bora installatiCf'S and !:.Anks have ccst ncre,. retiOJ.iation o:::sts are ~::ut the Sate, l:ut l1cuse pluroing costs are expected t:o reduce in t:i.'t'e as p::>lytutylene bec::::ue~ mor:e aCC'E!9ted. !he data bases of t.~e !lepattnonts of Energy ,. and '!'rar.sp::lt't and foi:)t:Ks have freely available for t.'lis paper. Mines and been made .. ; .:~ Kal Paqe, ore Prcp!rties Services Section, IIorthem Terri torj Il!partment of tan, has provided invaluable assiseance in relation to polyl::ut'.{lene and DR brass plumbirq, and soLar hot water systems. .Nom Allenf' Project Chemist, Assessll)::mt Branch, N:::ir1:hern 'Ierritor"'l cepart:n2nt of Mines and ;Snergy has provided rruch of the historical cct'1:'a5ion data and background info.mation ..