Southern Ports, Port of Esperance Berth 2 Stormwater Treatment

The Port of Esperance is one of three ports run by Southern Ports in Western Australia (Southern Ports, n.d.b). It has three berths and handles iron ore, grain, spodumene, fuel, sulfur, woodchips, fertilizer, copper concentrate and nickel, as well as containers (Southern Ports, n.d.a).

When the Berth 2 hardstand was renewed, Southern Ports used the project to add drainage and a stormwater treatment system, so that rainfall runoff from the berth is captured and treated before it reaches the harbor (Southern Ports, 2023; Southern Ports, 2024). Southern Ports does not describe the system as first flush capture; it treats runoff from the berth.

Approach

Built into a planned renewal. The treatment system was added as part of the Berth 2 hardstand renewal. The project scope was to resurface the hardstand and add drainage and a new stormwater treatment system (Southern Ports, 2024). Construction was listed as a key project in the 2022 to 2023 financial year (Southern Ports, 2023).

Targets particulate and dissolved contaminants. The system is designed to remove dissolved contaminants from stormwater before it enters the ocean, not only solids. Southern Ports states it removes both particulate and dissolved contamination from runoff across the berth (Southern Ports, 2024; Southern Ports, n.d.b).

Sampling to confirm performance. Southern Ports sampled rainfall runoff from the berth after the system began operating and continued to validate its performance in the following year (Southern Ports, 2024; Southern Ports, 2025).

Environmental data in one system. From May 2022 the port began bringing its environmental data, including stormwater and wastewater laboratory results, into a single data management system (Southern Ports, 2023).

Reuse of pavement material. More than 4,100 cubic meters of asphalt and concrete removed from the old hardstand were reused as aggregate underlay for a storage area at the port (Southern Ports, 2024).

Results

Water samples taken from January 2024 showed ammonia levels in rainfall runoff from the berth were reduced by more than 90 percent (Southern Ports, 2024). In 2024 to 2025, Southern Ports reported significant improvements in the quality of stormwater entering harbor waters from the berth. The system was recognized for excellence in water projects and in environment and sustainability at the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia WA Awards (Southern Ports, 2025). Reusing the removed pavement saved more than AUD 800,000 (Southern Ports, 2024).