WORLD HABITAT DAY – RUAKURA AND FLOC BOXES

by | Oct 3, 2022 | Products, Services

Today is World Habitat Day

Thinking outside and Inside the Box

A major concern of World Habitat Day – which falls this year on 3rd October – is the impact of progress on habitats and the environment. Amongst other concerns, it places a strong emphasis on the importance of water quality in ecosystems, an issue of which we at Erosion Control are all too aware; so, in this communication, we’re going to bring you two examples of how we do our bit to help. The first, a project at Ruakura in the Waikato, is an illustration of our ability to think outside the box, and the second, an insight into the process that makes our flagship Floc Boxes™ so effective, will show you what goes on inside the box.

Ruakura, Waikato – Simply Brilliant

We at Erosion Control have always prided ourselves on the ability to come up with innovative solutions to challenging problems, a talent which, at times, can border on stark raving genius, even if – as happened at Ruakura in the Waikato – the solution we came up with attracted some rather surprised looks.

 

Our client, Schick Civil Construction, had a problem. Due to a significant rain event their large site at Ruakura had collected a large volume of water. When you get that much water across such a large site, treating it before pumping can be an issue. That’s when the team at Erosion Control had to figure out the cheapest and most effective way to effectively dose the lake before it could be pumped out through a lamella and then into the storm water system. After brainstorming the possibilities, we settled on a simple and, what turned out to be, highly effective option: A garden sprinkler, a simple structure of boogie boards, pool noodles, long hoses and pumps.

 

After bench testing the water and working out the right chemical and the right dose rate, we pulled a sprinkler back and forth across the lake (see images above) whilst pumping to make sure we got an even dispersion rate. As we drew our ‘contraption’ across the body of water, the visual improvement in water quality became increasingly obvious. “Too Easy,” said Paul Hodge, Erosion Control’s Operations Manager, Waikato Region, but, as it turns out, our highly cost-effective solution made for one happy client. To check out a video of our McGyver-esque brainchild in action and get the full gen on the Ruakura project, please click here. And, yes, we did get some pretty strange looks as we exited Kmart loaded with 40 pool noodles!

Ever wondered what’s inside a Floc Box™  ?

Since winning the 2016 IEVA award for Excellence in Innovation, Contribution and Education to the Sediment and Erosion Control Industry, Erosion Control’s Floc Boxes™ are to be found on sites all over New Zealand and Australia and are at the forefront of our drive to help settle out sediment from site run-off to prevent it entering the surrounding water system. But have you ever wondered how they work? Well, the principle is pretty straightforward:

  • The catchment tray discharges collected rainfall to a header tank
  • The header tank is designed to simulate the runoff hydrograph and discharges water to the displacement tank accordingly
  • When the displacement tank, which floats in the flocculant reservoir becomes sufficiently filled with water, reagent is displaced through the flocculant reservoir’s outlet point, flows to the dosing point and out into the sedimentation pond

That’s it in a nutshell. You can download the brochure here, or, if visual’s more your thing, you can check out the process by clicking here to watch this cool little video.

And finally, just a heads up that this month will also see another important date on the International Environmental Calendar. This year, World Sustainability Day falls on 26th October – but we’ll have a lot more to say about that one when the time comes around.

For more information please contact:
𝐀𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 – 𝐖𝐞𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐰𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟎𝟐𝟕 𝟒𝟖𝟕 𝟓𝟗𝟐𝟗
[email protected]
𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 – Kym Hickey 021 199 3816
[email protected]

 

 

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