Two Million Litre Top-Up Tank

A new swimming and leisure centre in Melbourne will save up to 30 million litres of water per year thanks in part to a massive rainwater tank built by Tank Industries.

The Cranbourne Aquatic & Leisure Centre (CALC), being built by the City of Casey in Melbourne's south-east, is a A$37 million state of the art indoor leisure complex scheduled to open in mid 2009.

The new water-smart facility is said to be the best of its kind in Australia, incorporating groundbreaking environmental, energy and water saving initiatives as part of its design, including the impressive two million litre rainwater tank.

With an external facade of 4mm grade 250 XLERPLATE® steel, the tank was designed and manufactured by Tank Industries, a division of Hunt Engineering & Staff and sits in the mid size range of Tank Industries capabilities.

The XLERPLATE® steel wall plates were punch rolled, hot-dip galvanised and powder coated in the Tank Industries factory and delivered to site where it was strake stacked and bolted together. This assembly method allows for panels to be added to raise the height or for the tank to be disassembled and relocated if required.

Terry Reid, Manager of Tank Industries said, "We undertake large projects that require tanks of all shapes and sizes for various applications, but this is one of the more unique projects we've done.

"There were special considerations that needed to be taken into account during the design phase. For instance, the tank needed to be a low height because the water will be gravity fed into it. The water is then filtered and treated before being pumped into the pools as ‘top up' water, used for cleaning pool filters, amenities and for landscape watering."

"The tank is three metres high and 28 metres in diameter, has a Nylex reinforced material liner and is equal to approximately 400 standard sized backyard rainwater tanks." Terry said. "It will capture rainwater from the roofs of the CALC and existing adjacent basketball stadium and library," he explained.

Melbourne's water restrictions led to the City of Casey placing an emphasis on water-saving initiatives to be used at the CALC. It is expected that the tank will help save approximately 30 million litres of potable mains water every year through rainwater collection.

Hunt Engineering & Staff became a STEEL BY™ program member in May 2008 and uses the STEEL BY™ brochures, and logo on letterhead when submitting tender applications to enhance its established reputation as a manufacturer of quality steel products.