IT’S a regional success story that’s hidden from view, because most of it unfolds underwater.
Duxton Vineyards is part of it, as is the Mildura Weir, Hattah Lakes water control infrastructure and Mullaroo Creek environmental regulator.
And countless thousands of native fish (and possibly the odd carp) in the region owe their lives to the work of AWMA Water Control Solutions.
The reason the company’s success is rarely seen is it invariably ends up underwater – going straight from the factory floor to a river system or lake near you. And then it disappears.
AWMA is in the process of putting Cohuna, and all of northern Victoria, on the map – and not just locally, but on the world stage.
Because this little town and this booming business, are a success story it would be hard to match, anywhere between Mildura and Melbourne.
For example, Duxtons installed two mesh fish protection screens on the pumps for one of its irrigated 130ha vineyards.
“It actually works off the suction of the water, which turns an internal propeller that causes the screen to rotate in a cylindrical fashion,” the company’s environmental manager Dylan Klingbiel said.
“And it has a brush on the inner and outer surfaces, the brush frees and removes any material that accumulates, keeping things like fish or sticks and leaves in the river system.”
He said that compared to a standard irrigation screen, it also has a very low sphere of influence in the river system.
“The distance it sucks from is really small because of its large surface area, so it doesn’t have a lot of force to pull things in,” he said.
Duxton Vineyards general manager Wayne Ellis says on the strength of that first success, the company is now planning to install more fish screens at the other pumping stations it operates on the Darling River.
“We think in a full season you’d get a return on investment just from inside the business, opposed to what it’s doing to the environment,” Wayne said.
He says the engineering of the fish screens removes the risk of being unable to irrigate while also benefiting the river.
Founded 22 years ago, AWMA started with just two people – Brett Kelly and Rick Bilton.
Today it has 60 staff on the payroll and is urgently looking for more talented people who want to be part of something special.
At the recent Australian Stainless Steel Development Association industry awards, AWMA was named Fabricator Project of the Year.
It represents the culmination of years of hard work in innovation, design, manufacturing, assembling, exporting, and installing of a multi-million-dollar project to help save New Zealand’s native fish stocks.
Brett said that his company came up with seven stainless steel screens which divert fish caught in a 67km channel, extracting water for irrigation and hydropower schemes, and steering them back to their natural waterways.
“Each one of these screens weighs six tonnes and is, give or take a centimetre, 8m x 2m, plus a 20m flatter screen used as a catcher towards the end of the channel where it tapers and where the speed of the water increases,” Brett said.
“This was a big project for a New Zealand client – the Rangitata Diversion Race Management Limited is that country’s largest water management business – with significant environmental implications.”
The RDR takes water from the South Island’s Rangitata River 365 days of the year, and Brett said it was crucial to the business this process no longer came at a cost to the environment, primarily, native fish populations.
He says AWMA was awarded the design and construct contract to supply the environmentally sustainable diversion screen solution, that will deliver the required 30c3/sec flows while excluding sporting fish (primarily salmon and trout) and a variety of native fish, so they can return, unharmed, back into the river system.
“The environmentally sustainable solution our team designed and manufactured for the RDR project features a stainless-steel screening structure that is self-cleaning, fish-friendly, has a low whole-of-life cost, is compliant with fish screening guidelines, meets client requirements and sets a new standard for the design of intake screen technology,” Brett said.
“We have committed more than 20 years developing a very solid and skilled workplace here, so it’s very empowering for the team to receive national recognition. It’s also a great opportunity to highlight the calibre of regional Australian manufacturing for an international project,” he says.
It’s just one of many multi-stage, multi-million-dollar, international projects AWMA has secured.
“The diversity of our business operations is also an excellent platform for personal and professional growth,” Brett said. “AWMA is always looking for new team members, new partners, new allies.
“Should you be interested in contributing to a company that is making positive changes to the environment and is recognised for its high level of innovation and quality across the Australian water and manufacturing industries, then we’d love to hear from you.”
RDRML chief executive Tony McCormick said AWMA has played a “key role in the success of our strategically-important fish screen project – the largest of its type anywhere”.
“They came on board very early in our project and provided valuable input to the design development, with timely technical and commercial information,” Tony said.
“Its delivery has been outstanding, and the fabrication and construction quality of the very large stainless components has been truly impressive,” he says.
“And they didn’t miss a thing in the delivery program – everything was in place, on time. Brett and his team at AWMA have been fantastic partners to work with.”
Established in April 2000, founders Brett and Rick have since led AWMA to become one of the largest and most experienced international manufacturers of water control gates, screens, and barriers.
While the AWMA head office and manufacturing plant is in Cohuna, with a 2500m² facility situated on a 20,000m² block, all the work it does is bespoke, so that sometimes means going offsite to access work requiring specialist machinery it might not have.Further details from www.awmawatercontrol.com.au/
