Emerging Compounds Treatment Technologies, Inc (ECT2) part of the Montrose Environmental Group, Inc (Montrose) along with its partner the Northern Territory Power and Water Corporation (PWC) has announced that it won the Australasian Land and Groundwater Association (ALGA) Industry Excellence Award for the Best Remedial Project >$1M with its Katherine per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) Water Treatment Project.

The Katherine township of 10,000 people is located 320km south east of Darwin and is the Northern Territory’s third largest town, famous for the Nitmiluk Gorge, ancient Aboriginal culture. Territorians have a unique identity and enjoy a lifestyle and environment characterised by easy access to healthy waterways and oceans.

PFAS was identified in the drinking water supply of the Katherine township located in the Northern Territory of Australia in mid 2017. PFAS had migrated from an air force base approximately 15 kilometres away.

PWC, the Department of Defence (Defence) and ECT2 worked closely together to design, fabricate, install and commission a 12.5L/sec interim water treatment system within four months of PFAS being identified in the drinking water supply. This included the delivery of the water treatment system from Maine, USA to Katherine, Australia via an Antonov An-124 aircraft facilitated by Defence.

The interim water treatment system allowed PWC to determine the best long term solution to continue to provide the Katherine community with safe drinking water into the future. The interim water treatment system has been operating since late October 2017 and by November 2019, over 765 million litres of water had been treated.

Following consideration of a range of options, PWC has determined that a water treatment system similar to the interim treatment system will best facilitate its requirements into the future and ECT2 are working with PWC to design and install a 10 megalitre per day treatment system with an additional five megalitre per day redundancy capacity. This capacity caters for a 30 year design horizon that meets Katherine’s population and economic growth needs.

ECT2 are honoured to be partnered with PWC and providing a water treatment solution that ensures the Katherine community can be confident they have access to safe drinking water now and into the future.

More information on the Katherine PFAS Water Treatment Project can be found at: https://landandgroundwater.com/page/alga-excellence-awards-best-remedial-project-1m