Project Overview
Liberty Industrial was engaged by Qube Logistics to construct a 3,000,000 litre containment basin to enable the containment, management and temporary storage of surface waters run-off impacted by PFAS on the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal site.
The earlier removal of surface vegetation, concrete and tarmac hardstand areas lead to the exposure and potential mobilisation of PFAS. Investigations undertaken during project delivery alerted project stakeholders that PFAS contamination was impacting run-off water in some areas of site.
Liberty Industrial worked with Qube to develop a solution, taking into consideration the site’s development staging plans and potential discharge points for the treated water. The basin was constructed with imported sandstone, lined with High Density Polyethylene and the outside batters dressed with topsoil and jute mesh to prevent erosion.
The western area of the site impacted by PFAS was carefully managed with a series of swales and basins, capturing surface water runoff and preventing the release of PFAS impacted water to the wider environment while the east side of the site required an off-site storage, management and treatment solution.
Liberty Industrial worked with other project stakeholders to develop a solution to stormwater management and surface water run-off that could be potentially impacted by PFAS. The preliminary designs were undertaken by Liberty Industrial and ratified by project consultants, with the final design being approved by the client.
A basin was constructed with an out flow in the base utilising a fusion welded HDPE Pipe to gravity feed the water treatment plant, reducing the need to access the upper sloped of the basin and ensure safe operation and reducing the need for pumping by mechanical means.
One of the key elements of the design was to ensure that impacted water could not be released to the environment, to this end it was decided to construct the above ground basin with a robust imported sandstone to ensure structural integrity and to line the basin with a High Density Polyethylene.