A local farmer and long time client approached CIS to provide a solution to an ongoing issue at their dairy. After milking the dairy is washed down and cleaned, the runoff and waste is held in a catchment dam for later irrigation and fertilisation use. The water in the catchment dam develops a crusty layer on the surface and an unpleasant odour when it becomes stagnant. CIS was to develop a solution that met three critical points; prevent the water from becoming stagnant, provide a system that is capable of reusing the water for irrigation and fertilisation purposes, and most importantly, ensure safety when servicing the equipment given the nature of the liquid.
With consultation between a number of key internal personnel CIS was able to design and build a pontoon in-house containing a Caprari CMR 7.5kW horizontal submersible mixer (http://www.caprari.com/en/_products/products.jsp?idType=29&page=1&idp=13#idp_13) to combat stagnation and an 11kW Yardmaster RH vertical effluent pump (http://yardmaster.co.nz/products/yardmaster-effluent-pumps/vertical-effluent-pump-irrigation) for irrigation use.
Much consideration was given to the design ensuring that as few metallic components are in contact with the aggressive liquid as possible. The pontoon’s frame was designed to saddle the floats meaning there is no contact between the frame and the liquid.
The pontoon is made easily accessible via the walkway anchored to the dam wall made safe by the handrail, fibreglass flooring and kick plate. Another key consideration for CIS was serviceability of equipment; this is made possible by an overhead gantry with a block and tackle lifting mechanism for safe and easy access to all components usually submerged in the liquid.
CIS Managing Director, Darren Lee said “We have been using pontoon pump stations for years. This application required a few minor modifications from that of your standard irrigation pontoon but has proven to be highly successful.”
