Some history

In 1906 the first moves were made towards sewering Geelong when the Geelong Waterworks and Sewerage Trust was established. It was decided to build an ocean outfall to dispose of the waste, as it was simpler to construct and cheaper to operate, with a site south of Geelong being selected due to the favourable ocean currents.

The site was known as ‘Black Rock’ due to the basalt rocks that lined the shoreline. Work started in 1912 on the concrete sewer linking Geelong and Black Rock, with the first raw sewage being pumped into the ocean in 1917.

During the 1950s the population of Geelong took off, and so did the amount of raw sewage being pumped out into the sea, so moves were made to upgrade the sewerage system that served the city. The existing concrete sewer was corroding due to seawater backing up into the pipe, so a new sewer was laid parallel to the existing one, and a rudimentary treatment facility was opened at Black Rock in 1968.

Three comminutors ground up the solid waste into smaller pieces, which was then allowed to flow via gravity into the sea at low tide. At high tide a penstock prevented sea water from entering the plant, with archimedes screws being used to pump the waste into the sea.

Barwon Water photo from ‘Living By Water: a History of Barwon Water and its Predecessors’

Concern about the environment started to grow during the 1970s, with beaches near the Black Rock outfall had become popular with surfers, resulting in public protests about the raw sewage being sent out to sea.

In addition, the establishment of the Environment Protection Authority in 1972 to regulate waste disposal made things difficult for the water board, which resulted in an ultimatum – build a sewage treatment plant and underwater ocean outfall. Planning work commenced in 1983, and the upgraded facility finally opened in 1989.

The new ocean outfall was 1.2 kilometres long and 1.35 metres in diameter, with the steel pipeline being constructed on land and then dragged out to sea over a 48 hour period.

Barwon Water photo from ‘Living By Water: a History of Barwon Water and its Predecessors’

As for the treatment plant, raw sewage was lifted up from the sewer by archimedes screws.

Barwon Water photo from ‘Living By Water: a History of Barwon Water and its Predecessors’

And then passed through filter screens to eliminate any particles larger than one millimetre in size.

Barwon Water photo from ‘Living By Water: a History of Barwon Water and its Predecessors’

Despite the addition of the screening plant, the effluent being discharged at Black Rock would not meet future EPA requirements, so in 1994 work started on a biological treatment stage using the ‘Intermittently Decanted Extended Aeration‘ (IDEA) process.

Barwon Water photo from ‘Living By Water: a History of Barwon Water and its Predecessors’

Four aeration tanks were built, each 120 metres long by 60 metres wide, where microorganisms would digest the organic material in the aerated wastewater, eventually leaving class ‘C’ treated water that was suitable for irrigation purposes, and wet biosolids for disposal elsewhere.

Disposal of this wet sludge was the next problem for Barwon Water – with a water content of 85% it was initially stored at Black Rock, until they ran out of storage space in 2001, so as an interim solution the 140 tonnes of waste produced each day was trucked to the Western Treatment Plant in Werribee for drying.

Work was then started on a permanent facility at Black Rock to dry the biosolids and compress it into pellets of nutrient-rich fertiliser, which commenced operation in 2013.

With the solids now taken care of, the final step in closing the loop of sewage treatment was the treated water. Work started on the Black Rock Recycled Water Plant to produce class ‘A’ treated water, which has been supplied to residents of the new Armstrong Creek and Torquay North housing developments via a ‘purple pipe’ system since 2013.

Footnote

You can find the Black Rock treatment plant at the end of Blackrock Road in Connewarre.

Sidenote

My grandparents used to live near Black Rock, so the ‘poo farm’ was a landmark we drove past every time we paid a visit.

Every so often my grandfather would drive us out to poo farm, passing the wind turbine on Blackgate Road and parking the car at the end of the road. We could then walk west along the coast, passing the red and white concrete vent shaft of the original ocean outfall, and the round concrete turret that marks the replacement outfall.

During the 1990s there were also two additional structures on the coastline – the original 1960s comminutor plant, and a massive concrete chamber that allowed the raw sewage to be mixed before entering the sea. Presumably both have been demolished in the years since, as no trace of them can be found today.

My grandfather also happened to play golf with one of the facility managers, so in sometime in the mid-1990s he wrangled us a tour of the treatment plant itself. On the top floor they had a lookout pointed at the end of the ocean outfall, and a collection of items pulled out of the incoming sewage, but the highlight was seeing inside the massive screening filters – they looked like a gargantuan version of a clothes dryer.

Sources

• The 2005 book ‘Living By Water: a History of Barwon Water and its Predecessors’ by Leigh Edmonds provides a detailed history of the water and sewerage systems of Geelong – a PDF copy is on their website.
• Leighton Contractors installed the Black Rock ocean outfall in 1986 – they describe the process here.
• Barwon Water describe their biosolids drying plant and recycled water plant on their website.

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And that thing was the filming location at the 21 second mark, where there is a tail view of the car driving along the coast.

Yep – by the water in Geelong, with the car driving along Hearne Parade with Corio Bay in the background.

Skip forward to another day, and another ‘I bought a Jeep’ commercial, with another familar looking location.

This time it is a car driving over a bridge at the 24 second mark, followed by a parting shot of the same bridge.

Again the footage is from Geelong, but in a much more remote location –
Blackgate Road in Connewarre, with the bridge crossing over Thompson Creek.

You can take the boy out of Geelong, but you can’t take Geelong out of the boy!

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The young age of Victoria’s wind farms makes the state look like a laggard in the renewable energy states, especially when you discover Australia’s first wind farm opened at Esperance in Western Australia all the way back in March 1987. However, Victoria does have a link to that trailblazing wind farm at Salmon Beach, and it is found at the small coastal township of Breamlea: midway between Barwon Heads and Torquay, just south of Geelong.

Victoria’s first wind turbine was erected in November 1987, only eight months after the pioneering turbines in WA commenced operations. The main difference was their purpose: Esperance was not connected to the state electricity grid and built their six turbines to supplement their diesel powered generation plant, while the single Victorian turbine was an experiment by monopoly electricity utility State Electricity Commission of Victoria, and the Victorian Solar Energy Council (now Sustainability Victoria).

The photo above is from Michael Gunter’s website, and it is possibly copyright of the former SECV.

Despite the differences in purpose, the turbines at the two locations were identical: both were built by Westwind of Kelmscott, Western Australia in conjunction with Venco of Newtown, Victoria. Was there some connection between the Geelong firm and the SECV choice of trial location?

The generator itself was of 60 kW capacity, connected to the three 8 metre long blades via a 1:21.9 ratio gearbox, located atop a 22 metre high steel monopole tower.

Costing around $200,000 to erect in 1987, the SECV operated the turbine at Breamlea intensively for the first three years, reaching a peak of 12 kW average power in 1990, but then a series of minor mechanical breakdowns and operational problems cut the average power to 6 kW and then 2.7 kW, when the privatisation of the Victorian electricity intervened in 1994.

Compared with brown coal fuelled power stations that were being sold off to private enterprise for billions of dollars, the tiny turbine at Breamlea was ignored by major investors, the only interest coming from the Alternative Technology Association of Melbourne. A non-profit community group that promotes environmentally friendly technology, the association made an offer for $18,000, which was accepted by Generation Victoria in September 1994.

The funding for the purchase came via a $6,000 interest free loan from an ATA member, a $6,000 donation by a second member, and a $6,000 contribution from CityPower in exchange for the right of first refusal to buy the electrical energy produced by the wind generator. At the time of the purchase the unit had been mothballed, with various parts of the turbine requiring maintenance before electricity generation could recommence, with the first power bring supplied to the grid in April 1995.

It was during the period of the ATA’s ownership that a number of open days were held at the site, with visitors being taken up to the top of the turbine, where the hatches were opened up to expose the equipment inside. Around 1995 I attended one of these open days with my grandfather, but unfortunately I didn’t get to visit the top: I’m not sure if I was too young, or nobody else was allowed up either.

Over the next few months the cash flow problems began to trouble the non-profit association, and the decision was made to sell the wind turbine to one of their members for $30,000. The new owner, a Mr Michael Gunter, had provided the initial interest free loan to the association and was a key driver of their involvement in the Breamlea project.

Under private ownership the average power output of the turbine was 10 kW: down from the peak of 12 kW during SECV operation in 1990, but continuing at a steady rate until May 2003 when the generator burnt out, due to an electrical flash-over caused by moisture and salt contamination. It is assumed that the cost of repairs were too much for the private owner, as the Breamlea turbine was sold to local water utility Barwon Water the same year, who got the turbine generating electricity again by early 2004.

Almost 25 years after entering service, the Breamlea wind turbine remains in service today, except for a short outage in September 2001.

What happened to the manufacturers?

• Westwind Wind Turbines: they have moved from Western Australia to the United Kingdom
• Venco: now better known as a pottery equipment manufacturer

And back at Esperance? Their Salmon Beach Wind Farm was dismantled in 2002: four turbines were sold to a Queensland company; with the final one kept on site as a monument, being cut down and placed on display at ground level.

Further reading

• Full production statistics from 1987 to 2003
• Media releases and data from the period of ATA ownership
• Western Power’s regional wind energy systems: a look at the Salmon Beach Wind Farm in Esperance, WA

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