Location

Just on Adderley Street in Mt Claremont we have 5 clients who all have bore water problems. From Lisle Villages on Alfred Road through to the other end of Adderley Street near the Community Centre we are all to familiar with Adderley Street’s iron afflication.

Mt Claremont and Shenton are classified as having low iron staining risk Perth Groundwater Atlas, but we can confirm that both suburbs have exceptionally high levels of iron in their ground water.

What is happening?

• Iron mixes with air and changes to iron oxide which is brown/orange
• Calcium binds to the iron oxide and together they calcify onto porous surfaces.

How do you treat it?

Iron must be oxidised, captured and separated out before it can reach irrigation lines. We can reduce mineral content to potable levels using a suitable combination of water technologies including:

1. Water softener
2. Disk filters
3. Chlorine dosing units

Scroll to see how!

Capturing Iron

This is a disk filter from one of our clients on Adderley Street that wasn’t serviced for 12 months.

All that orange iron caught in the disk filter would have been sprayed across the garden and stained surfaces.

We weren’t able to clean this filter and it is a perfect example of how much iron is caught and why consistent servicing is definitely necessary.

For high risk suburbs it is necessary to complete two services a year on iron treatment systems such as this. One service is a 24 hour acid rinse and the other is replacing the disk filter with a new one

Unlocking Nutrients

Bore water high a mineral content of both good and bad minerals. Plants thrive on the right amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. However iron, salt and acidity (pH.) stops plants from accessing these important nutrients.

A water softener unlocks these nutrients and reduces iron accumulation at the same time.

Along Adderly Street, Mt Claremont and the rest of Perth, we include water softeners in each of our iron treatment systems because of their dual functionality.

It stops iron staining and makes gardens healthier.

Stain Removal & Prevention

This before and after image shows the exact same grass and front wall 12 months apart. This home on Adderley Street had an average level of iron staining when we arrived on site. 

We removed the existing stain using an acid solution and rinsing it off after a short wait. 

In the second image the grass has grown back and the fence doesn’t have stain on it. This is because our iron treatment system stops the iron from staining the wall all over again!

It is always fulfilling to return to a home and see a system working as it was designed too.

Further up Adderley Street

The same bore wate problem exists just 200 metres up the road at a different home. Bore water quality is generally very similar within a suburb which makes it easy to estimate the iron content prior to testing.

This before and after shows how an acid rinse removes iron from the filter and gives it another six months of life. 

Iron treatment systems in high risk areas should be inspected twice a year. This keeps the system running efficiently and ensures no saturated iron is being sprayed through sprinklers.