Treating large stormwater volumes in Perth,Western Australia
Humeceptor installation at Booragoon Lake in Perth, Australia,
to treat stormwater runoff from a catchment area near Leach
Highway.
Leach Highway is
a major six-lane
highway linking
key industrial
areas and residential suburbs
in Perth. It carries
significant traffic including
heavy vehicles such
as semi-trailers and fuel
and oil tankers. To
improve water quality
and to protect the local
environment, Main Roads
Western Australia and the
City of Melville implemented
Per th’s Leach
Highway stormwater
runoff project.
Prior to the installation
of the Humeceptor®,
stormwater runoff from a
4.3 ha (10.6 acre) catchment
of Leach Highway
was being discharged
directly into a regionally
significant wetland at
Booragoon Lake. The
need to remove pollutants
such as hydrocarbons and
heavy metals bound with
sediments, inherently
associated with stormwater
runoff from major
roadways such as Leach Highway, was
identified by the City of Melville and
Main Roads Western Australia, in conjunction
with GHD Pty Ltd.
GHD Pty Ltd. required a stormwater
treatment device capable of removing
hydrocarbons, sediments and heavy
metals as well as handling the possible
rollover of an oil or fuel tanker.
Historical and statistical analyses
demonstrated that the 2,980 litre (765
US gallons) oil storage capacity of the
STC18 Humeceptor, traditionally
installed to treat highway runoff, would
be insufficient to cater for
a potential fuel or oil
spillage. A new design
was required for the
Highway, including an
additional 19,000 litres
(5,019 US gallons) of
storage capacity.
In addition to the
potential storage capacity
issues, the team faced
tight spatial constraints.
Only a 10m (33’) strip
lay between Leach
Highway and the nearby
Booragoon Lake, thus a
small footprint was an
essential prerequisite for
any treatment device.
The solution was to build
an adjacent concrete
stormwater oil storage
tank connected to the oil
storage zone of the
STC18 Humeceptor.
The Humeceptor
design made it possible
for contractor DM Civil
to complete the installation
within hours,
avoiding excessive
dewatering and potential
contamination from
acid sulphate soils.
Stormceptor® is manufactured in
Australia by Humes under the
Humeceptor trademark.
