L'Institut royal d'architecture du Canada on LinkedIn: Calling All Experts! The Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes…
The Royal Architectural Institute Of Canada | L'Institut royal d'architecture du Canada
Calling All Experts! The Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes (CBHCC) is recruiting volunteers for the 2030 code development committees. As a…
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In January this year, Co-Lab Engineering along with other local supply chain partners, were engaged to lead a two-week ‘sprint’ aimed at identifying engineering solutions to the brown water in Whitehaven Harbour. This sprint allowed us to explore three fundamental questions: 1. What are the economic, environmental, and technological drivers for change, beyond the aesthetic concerns for our town? 2. What are the existing industry solutions for dealing with iron ochre? 3. What are the potential legal and regulatory frameworks and funding provisions for addressing this issue? We found answers to two of these questions, including sound assumptions on the primary, secondary, and tertiary impacts on the businesses and residents of Whitehaven, as well as the existing, quickly deployable, industry-recognised solutions. The challenge with this issue is not technical. Iron ochre is routinely managed worldwide with active solutions designed to aerate, filter, and balance the pH of the water returned to the source. However, the volumetric flow rate combined with limited space makes any potential solution large and expensive. The challenge also lies within the legal and regulatory frameworks required for the deployment of these solutions, as well as the availability of financial resources. There are three critical success factors for deploying a solution: 1. Data: Sufficient data to substantiate the design of a solution so it is sized correctly, including iron loading and flow rate with a proportional safety factor for extreme weather events. 2. Permitting: Regulatory support for permitting a potential solution, ensuring the approach conforms to high environmental standards and improves conditions rather than worsening them. 3. Financial Resource: Adequate capital and operational budget to deliver an active solution with consideration for life-time cost. Efforts have been made and continue to be made to understand the iron loading and flow rate, but more needs to be done to meet the other critical success factors. Since the sprint, I have been donating my time to work as part of the multi-agency task force, supporting with engineering and project delivery ideas to help remediate this issue as quickly as possible. In my limited role of authority, my impact and influence are relatively constrained, but I hope the above has provided some degree of clarity from an objective and somewhat informed perspective. Please note, I will not be responding to any comments or direct messages on this matter.