50 years of coatings testing at SA water
Paul Vince, Principle Materials Engineer, SA Water
Background
SA Water owns and has managed South Australia’s water infrastructure for over 150 years and provides water and wastewater services to 1.6 million people. With 43 water treatment plants, 24 wastewater treatment plants, 26,000 km of water mains and 8,500 km of sewers with asset value at $13 billion in total, it is important to consider the measures of minimising deterioration of these assets and to maximise their service life; as well as to provide knowledge for future designs of water infrastructure in the South Australian environment.
Under some of the most aggressive operating environments, the demanding role of containing and transporting pressurised water and corrosive wastewater challenges many construction materials that must be able to resist reaction with their environment.
In this article ‘environment’ is defined as the surroundings which candidate materials are exposed to in their real life applications. The test sites simulate these surroundings, and typically account for; local climates, the soil in which the pipe was laid, the substances being contained, or a combination of the above.