Anthony Domanti - Career Profile

(Married and Father of two daughters / Senior Principal Water Engineer / Amateur Winemaker / Co-host of “The Good Drop with Hawkes and AD – A Water Industry Flavoured Podcast”)

The early years

Anthony Domanti (or AD) was born in a little country town called Ayr, North Queensland in 1974. His Father was a naturalised Italian immigrant who came to Australia from Sicily when he was just 17 and worked as a sugarcane harvester operator. His mother of Sicilian heritage was also born in Ayr. Anthony was the first of his sugarcane growing family to go to university. He graduated with a Civil Engineering Degree achieving First Class Honours from James Cook University in Townsville in 1995.

AD in his hometown of Ayr

General

Anthony is a design manager with over 25 years’ experience in providing services to local government, private developers and construction contractors in the water supply and sewerage field, including detailed design, detailed planning/feasibility studies, contract documentation, contract administration and site supervision. His extensive experience in managing multidisciplinary teams has contributed to Anthony’s thorough understanding of the safety-in-design process.

Anthony is experienced in upgrading large wastewater pump stations and is passionate about “sweating assets harder” and challenging the status quo. He is also a regular presenter at the Australian Water Association’s Ozwater annual conferences and other water industry events. Throughout his career has prepared over 20 technical papers during his engineering career.

Anthony is also a Principal Professional Associate at WSP, a mark of professional excellence, industry engagement and willingness to share knowledge and experience with colleagues.

From March 2012 to August 2013, Anthony was the design manager for the Logan Water Alliance (LWA). In this role, he was responsible for managing day-to-day operations of the LWA design team, which comprised of up to 20 design engineers and drafters, as well being part of LWA’s Program Management Team, which was responsible for developing LWA’s strategic directions. One of his primary objectives as the design manager was to focus on producing innovative, cost-effective, value-for-money infrastructure design solutions that satisfied all council stakeholders.

He is currently working as a Project Development Project Manager for the Logan Water Partnership.

He has a passion for winemaking, and his skill has been recognised in achieving medals at several amateur wine competitions both in Australia and internationally.

Professional Associations

Engineers Australia Fellow

Australian Water Association Member AWA Member

Chartered Professional Engineer CPEng

National Professional Engineers Register (NER)

Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland RPEQ No. 8238

Justice of the Peace (Qualified) JP

WSP Principal Professional Associate2017

Professional Areas of Expertise

Wastewater Pump Station Design

Water Supply

Pump Selection

Detailed Planning

Odour Control

Site Supervision

Detailed Design

Innovative Solutions

Major Career Projects

Loganholme Lift Station Renewal, Logan, Qld, Australia (2020-2021): Logan Water Partnership, Work Package Design Manager/Lead Designer

Anthony has led the detailed design of renewal works associated with the Loganholme Wastewater Treatment Plant Lift Station. The Lift Station which was completed in 1983 consists of a 20m deep dry/wet-well arrangement. The pump station was originally equipped with three dry-mounted pumps with a capacity of 1,000 L/s. However, of the last 40yrs the station has been retrofitted on several occasions, and now consists of four dry-mounted submersible pumps with a design pumping capacity of 3,500 L/s. Due to the many modifications overtime, the station is difficult to operate and perform maintenance in a safe manner. In recent wet weather events, the lift station has suffered reliability issues, and this resulted in the need to replace the pumps and re-configure pipework.

Anthony has been responsible for developing a new pipework configuration that improves pump station reliability and operator maintainability. The new configuration involves replacing the existing 2 large and 2 small pumps with 4 x 900L/s. Each pump will have its own suction pipework and discharge manifold that will enable the pump station to be controlled easily. Anthony utilised both virtual reality technology and 360 degree videos in the development of a pipework concept and associated detailed design of the station renewal. This project is an excellent demonstration of how these technologies improve stakeholder engagement by providing a greater level of understanding than any 2D drawing could ever achieve. The pump station renewal was completed in December 2021.

Alfred Street SPS Upgrade & Renewals: Detailed Design, Logan, Qld, Australia (2009–2019): Logan Water, (Project value: approx. $60m), Design manager and design lead.

During his tenure with Logan Water, he has worked extensively on the Alfred Street Sewage Pump Station (SPS) site. The Alfred Street site is the wastewater heart of Logan City’s network. The site includes the main pump station which services 200,000 equivalent persons (EP) or 84% of the Loganholme Wastewater Treatment Plant catchment.

The site contains two separate pump stations: the original SPS02 pump station (pictured) and the newer SPS69 pump station.

The works at the site has involved:

Undertaking numerous condition assessment investigations and critical master planning activities associated with the station.

A new 7.0km x DN1200 rising main from the pump station to the Loganholme WWTP Inlet Works

Reconfiguration of the SPS69 wet well to enable an ultimate flow capacity of 2,000L/s

Improving operator safety by removing the existing line shaft pumps at SPS02 and associated access platforms, and increasing system reliability through installation of new dry-mounted submersible pumps and a new electrical switchroom.

SPS69 upgrade that involved the installation of a new switchroom, construction of a new VSD room, pump replacement, and the design of an innovative pump lifting device which has removed the need for confined space entry when removing the pumps for maintenance.

Construction of a new odour control unit which comprises a first stage biological phase, followed by an activated carbon polishing phase.

Preparation of several operational documents, such as an Operating Control Philosophy and an Emergency Response Plan

Industry Achievements

2021

Brian Davis Award for Best Overall Paper (Water Industry Operators Association, QLD)

2017

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (Qld) Excellence Award in the Water, Wastewater and Drought Management Category (Projects $5million to $10million) associated with the Alfred Street Pump Station Upgrade project

2016

LoganWIA ALG Award (Chairmans Award)
LoganWIA ALG Award (Knowledge Sharing)

2009

Quarterly Excellence Award for Engineering Excellence (Safety in Design), WSP

2003

Third place, Young Engineers (Queensland) Public Presentation Competition

Personal Interests

Wine-making – I have received medals at several amateur wine competitions both in Australia and internationally

Italian cooking/bbq’s – I have made a stainless-steel charcoal grill that I regularly use most weekends.

Golf – I am an avid golfer, who plays off a handicap of 6

Native Bee’s – I have three native beehives at home, that I enjoy working with in the garden.