Turning a Quarry into a Class A Water Asset: How WEARS Australia helped deliver the Wamuran Irrigation Scheme.
WEARS Australia (WEARS) have installed a ResMix 3000 system in the Wamuran Irrigation Scheme dam, eliminating the causes of stratification.
When Unitywater set out to build the Wamuran Irrigation Scheme, it aimed to do more than deliver recycled water — it aimed to build a sustainable, circular water system that benefits farmers, waterways, and communities.
A key part of this vision involved Moodlu Quarry, a disused, steep-sided pit near Caboolture, Queensland, repurposed as a balancing storage for Class A recycled water. The challenge? More than 40 metres of water depth and severe thermal stratification, with dissolved oxygen at depth dropping below 30%.
Without intervention, this could compromise water quality — impacting everything downstream, from nutrient release and the issues surrounding that, to irrigation suitability.
Our Role
WEARS Australia was brought in to solve the problem. Our approach: deploy a proven, efficient, and low-energy destratification system — the ResMix 3000.
This axial-flow floating mixer was designed to:
- Circulate the entire reservoir volume
- Stabilise oxygen levels from surface to base
- Maintain Class A water quality suitable for long-term agricultural use
What Happened Next
Within five days, monitoring showed significant improvement at mid-depths. Within five weeks, stratification was completely eliminated.
Dissolved oxygen levels climbed to 80–85% across all depths — from 5 metres to 45 metres — and have remained stable.
ResMix 3000 performance at Moodlu Quarry: Dissolved oxygen (% saturation) stabilised from surface to 45 m depth after just 5 weeks of continuous operation.
This performance gave Unitywater the confidence to proceed with full-scale distribution, helping deliver ~2.6 billion litres of recycled water per year to growers in the region. The success of the project also reinforced client trust in WEARS’ destratification approach — demonstrating that measurable results can be achieved quickly, reliably, and at scale.
The Bigger Picture
The Wamuran Irrigation Scheme has since been recognised with the Sustainable Project of the Year Award by the Australian Institute of Project Management — a testament to what’s possible when good planning meets the right technology.
For WEARS Australia, this wasn’t just a technical win — it was a contribution to a more sustainable, more productive future for Australian agriculture.
What We Learned
Repurposed quarries can reliably function as Class A water assets with the right approach
ResMix 3000 continues to deliver consistent destratification within weeks — as expected
The key insight was not just speed, but sustained stability over time
This project reinforced our belief that consistent performance builds trust — and this project deepened client confidence in our approach
Outcomes like this validate the strategy, not just the system