A new water tank supplying Beechworth will meet peak demand for the next 30 years.
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Twelve months of construction was completed at the end of 2017 on the 3.5 million litre water tank, located on Dingle Road near the existing treatment plant.
The $1.9 million tank, 30 metres in diameter and six metres high, is now in use.
Planning and infrastructure executive Kevin Freeman said it was not unusual in size but doubled the capacity of previous storage for Beechworth and brought it up to speed with other towns.
One of the big things we’ve been trying to do over the last four or five years is to have one day’s peak demand in storage
- Kevin Freeman of NEW
“One of the big things we’ve been trying to do over the last four or five years is to have one day’s peak demand in storage,” he said.
“Beechworth is one of the last sites to meet that – it previously had half a peak day’s storage.
“A peak day demand for Beechworth would be roughly four megalitres and this tank is adding two megalitres worth of capacity.”
Mr Freeman said it was rare the town hit peak demand for treated water, but having the storage to support such a situation provided reliability.
“If the treatment plant runs out of power or there’s a bust water main in town, we have the storage to continue to supply customers,” he said.
“It puts stress on operational staff having to respond in short periods of time – if you have four or five hours to get the system up and running again it’s difficult for staff – this provides operational flexibility.
“It’s size will meet our peak daily means through to 2050 and it’s a concrete tank so we expect it to be well and truly in service for 100 years.”
A five-megalitre storage facility came online at Bright a couple of years ago, there are 10-megalitre storage facilities at Wangaratta and a Corryong is serviced by a two-megalitre tank.
A water treatment plant at Yackandandah recently became the first in Victoria to be run by a solar and battery storage system.
Mr Freeman said it was early days but there were opportunities to do more with renewable energy.
“If the cost of power is quite expensive we have the option now to not run the treatment plant and wait for a time more affordable time at Yackandandah,” he said.
“Going forward there’s possibility of working renewable energy into sites like Beechworth as well.”
