Engineering

The engineering team is responsible for ensuring all scheme assets are designed, built, operated, and maintained to provide the best possible operating performance, reliability, and longevity.

Design

Our engineers assess new share sales to determine how best to modify the scheme to supply additional water. Hydraulic models are maintained to allow performance monitoring of the scheme and to determine where spare capacity is available.

Performance

Scheme performance is monitored across the scheme constantly. Any potential or actual performance issues are assessed by our engineers and then appropriate solutions are implemented by working closely with our maintenance team.

Optimization

Optimization of scheme assets includes monitoring and assessment of assets, components, and parts to ensure that the scheme is operating as efficiently and cost effectively as possible.

Engineering Excellence

The Central Plains Water Scheme has engaged professional design and construction engineers throughout its development.

We have retained key personnel and their skills within the business to ensure that state-of-the-art engineering underpins the operation, maintenance and asset management of the scheme.

Managing our Assets

Raliability and continuity of supply is critical to our business. Our engineering and maintenance staff work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep our network delivering water.

Reliability

Scheme reliability is critical. Our engineers monitor the scheme assets to ensure that reliable water supply is maintained to our shareholders. Unplanned events such as power outages, floods and pressure fluctuations are monitored, and the engineers work with the operations and maintenance team to restore supply as quickly as possible. Planned maintenance outages are occasionally required to ensure the longer term reliability of the scheme is maintained.

Asset Management

The engineering manager works closely with the operations manager and the maintenance team to determine the short term and long term asset management requirements across the scheme. This includes identifying critical spare parts, working with suppliers to identify and source spare parts and consumables, and determining the long term asset replacement requirements of the scheme to inform the capital budget planning process.

Prevention

A key part of our asset maintenance programme is preventative maintenance. The engineering manager works closely with the maintenance engineers to define and schedule all preventative maintenance on the scheme assets. Where possible maintenance is deferred to outside the irrigation season, but in-season routine maintenance occurs throughout the year to ensure the scheme assets can continue to supply water.

Protecting our Pipelines

Infrastructure Quality