A Casey plumber marks a milestone in a multi-year water infrastructure upgrade project

To build new water tanks, you first need to demolish the old ones...

The Casey Tank House project.

Projects on any Antarctica station seem to take a long time to complete due to weather conditions and their remote locations. One project that is becoming closer to completion is the removal of all three cast iron tanks from the tank house at Casey station. These tanks have been in place since 1986 (37 years). The people involved in the construction of the cast iron square tanks and plumbing system should be proud of the long legacy they have left at Casey and the importance it has for the station to operate.

The sludge that builds up on the inside of these old tanks has been removed many times since their installation and the walls re-lined with a thick bitumen based product to help slow down water rusting the cast iron. The tanks were starting to show signs of age and leaks were beginning to appear.

A project began in 2018/19 to replace the existing tanks with two 70,000 litre tanks and one 90,000 litre tank. All three tanks will be round.

In the winter of 2022 the first cast iron tank was removed and some months later, during the following summer, a clean base was poured and a new 70,000 litre galvanised round tank with liner was installed in its place. During the summer of 2022/23 additional plumbing was installed to accommodate the new tanks.

On 1 May 2023, the last wall of the existing cast iron tanks were dismantled, then the concrete floor of the tanks will be jack hammered and removed back to a clean base.

The team will then level a base ready for the new tanks and start building the last two tanks ready for the incoming summer population.

Pipework will then continue around the inside perimeter of the tank house to connect the tanks to the plumbing network. With every new cycle of change comes new technology in materials, hopefully these tanks will outlive their predecessors of 37 years. Time will tell.

Some of the expeditioners involved in Tank House project this season have been: Shaun Azzopardi, Steve Clibborn, Darcy Henderson, Brad Jackson, Dom Vidler, Ian Robinson, Justin Agius, Michael Howard, Duncan Logan, Brendan Cherry, Billy Merrick, Brett Sambrooks, Clint Cahir and the electricians who wander in every now and then to check on lights and re-run cables.

- Billy Merrick, Casey station plumber

A man in orange hi-vis workwear is leaning on a white steel workbench. He is wearing a black baseball cap and glasses. In the background there is a large silver steel water tank and pipes stretching across the photo.
In the centre of the photo is a light blue square steel metal plate, hanging from a crane hook. Either side of the plate is two men in disposable white overalls, respirators and safety goggles. They are quite dirty. They are standing in the remains of the water tank, which is a rust covered concrete block. The green walls of the shed are in frame.
A man in orange hi-vis is standing on a ladder, facing the camera. He is working on some large copper pipes with a wrench. In the background is a very large light blue water tank made of square metal panels bolted together.
This photo is a close up of one of the original light blue metal plates of the water tank and is approximately 45cm square. It bears the words "GORDON MARR & SONS, SYDNEY, CAST IRON TANKS".
A man in orange hi-vis workwear is kneeling down and looking up at the camera smiling. He is holding some electrical test equipment. To the left is the side of a large silver steel water tank. To the right is the framework of the shed he is working in, and the green shed cladding is also visible.
This photo shows some very old thin tie-in bars, criss-crossed inside the old water tank. They are illuminated by work light and encrusted with rust.
In the centre of this photo is a large wall made of rusted square metal plates. A rust covered concrete floor extends either side of this wall. In the background is the green wall of the shed.
The rear of this photo is filled with a very large 70000 litre bare steel cylindrical water tank. The foreground is filled with pipework and small pumps. Overhead there are two long florescent lights.
This photo is largely comprised of a bare concrete floor, where the water tank stood for many years. The left and the rear of the photo are the walls of the shed covered in framework and pipes. In the back left of the photo stands the new steel cylindrical water tank.
This photo is an overview of the Tank House with pipes of various sizes suspended from the roof and stretching across the floor. In the right rear of the photo is the large new steel cylindrical water tank.
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