ID: 928
Date: 1984
Donated By:
Description: Moongunya News 1984
Erinie's Invention
Environmentalist Ernie Gray has come up with a clever invention for Collinsville Coal Company's evaporation ponds. Because water that collects in underground and opencut mines is acidic and cannot be run off in local waterways, it might be pumped into dams for storage and evaportation. A system system using PVC pipes nozzles in the past was held in position with foam filled canisters tied to thin pipes with rope. Very often, if the rope was not sufficiently tight, the standpipe and nozzle would fall sideways and become submerged. Another problem was rotted ropes which had to be retied by rowing cut on the pond. Ernie who has been employed at CCP over 14 years, came up with the idea to drill a hole through each canister and pass the PVC pipe through each hole and is then loosely positioned with a small length of rope. Ernie's new method has led to a reduction in saterials (less rope and fewer floats) and two men can do the job in a quarter of the time.
David Charles, CCP environment scientist said "even if the ropes do break, floats held in position by the pipe they support and the spray systems are unable to become submerged".