Southland District Council Water & Wastewater Reticulation & Treatment O&M Case Study

06/09/2021

Context/challenge: Southland District Council (SDC) is responsible for public water and waste infrastructure throughout the Southland district. They are required to undertake repairs and maintenance for an extensive network consisting of sewerage schemes, wastewater pump stations, stormwater networks, and urban and rural supply schemes.

Downer’s involvement on the current $4M p.a. contract began in 2010 and will carry through to 2023. Our Water business undertakes Operations and Ma intenance of water and wastewater systems across the Southland District concerning:

• 13 water treatment plants
• Reservoirs
• 4,000 valves and hydrants
• 623km of water mains
• 10,000 service connectors
• 18 wastewater treatment plants
• 80 wastewater pump stations
• 225km of sewerage
• 1,600 manhole

Solution: Downer’s Water and Automation business provides SDC with a wide array of experience and skill to manage the contract, and together with SDC, has implemented an effective governance structure which oversees Downer’s provision of:

• 24/7 availability and response to customer requests, system faults, and emergency events over the large geographical area
• Operation and maintenance services for water and wastewater reticulation systems and treatment facilities, including electrical and mechanical activities
• Assistance in overcoming issues relating to drinking water through the upgrade of the water treatment plants
• A high level of asset ownership and involvement in asset management plans
• Successful implementation of IPSHANSEN (version 8), with direct input into the system and reporting capabilities
• Skilled system users who can troubleshoot and transfer learnings to the SDC team.
• Monitoring that ensures safety and quality of water such as self and independent audits, consent monitoring programmes, and data from WINZ, HANSEN IPS and the NZ Fire Service.

Key Outcomes: Through our strong relationship with Southland District Council (SDC), Downer’s Water and Automation teams have delivered a number of successful outcomes, such as the design and build of the Te Anau, Mossburn, Otautau and Winton Water Treatment Plants. We facilitated these upgrades without interrupting existing operations, and ensured the treatment plants were in line with the 2008 drinking water standards.

Over the past three years, we have been achieving an excellent rating of 93% across 14 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This monitoring ensures the correct levels of safety and water quality are provided.

This 11 year contract has allowed Downer and SDC to collaboratively refine their systems and processes. Dower has also been able to take the lessons learned, and apply them to other areas of business provision. TO date, Downer’s Water and Automation teams have delivered the contract on time and within budget.

“Downer Senior Management should find some peace of mind knowing the fine calibre of young field staff the organisation employs, and I am sure replication of their internal morals that align with the organisational values – particularly courage.” Matt Keil – Water and Waste Services, Southland District Council.