June 10, 2009
A $1 million project to improve water and sewer services in Manilla and Barraba is underway with another $2million in works scheduled over the next year.
A number of new works to upgrade water supplies have already been completed in Manilla at a cost of over $160,000 but another $720,000 program is about to get underway to improve overall supply and the sewer infrastructure network in the town.
The current projects will be followed up with about $2million extra in water and sewer works in Barraba and Manilla over the next year, including further investigation of a new water treatment plant at Manilla and major sewer pump station augmentations at Barraba.
Work will begin at Barraba on June 16 to deliver a $130,000 upgrade to water services there including two new water mains.
Tamworth Regional Council says the $880,000 program at Manilla will give more reliable water and waste water supply to many of the 1,130 water connections that make up the users in the Manilla water scheme.
Most of those are residential users. The works began in March this year and have involved TRC water and sewer construction crews in below-ground construction related to the pipeline systems.
They have so far replaced the water main in Wilga Avenue which has served the surrounding area, including Manilla Central High School, for more than 30 years. A new 460metre long main has been installed that runs from Court St up Wilga Ave and around the residential area in a huge loop. It is a 100mm diameter line, replacing the old one and will deliver a more reliable supply. The old line has repeatedly failed over the past few years.
TRC is also about three weeks from finishing a major three month long project to install a network of 45 new stop valves across Manilla. The project, costing $70,000, is putting stop valves at intersections and major junctions of the town network to protect users from prolonged interruptions when breaks occur in the water supply system.
Water Enterprises Director Bruce Logan says that where there are any water main breaks or maintenance works in future, smaller areas will be affected, and fewer users affected so that repairs should also be easier and quicker to resume supply.
Mr Logan says the two projects will deliver improved services to 1,870 users in the two centres. He says the projects are a significant investment in the upgrade of water and sewer infrastructure assets.
The biggest stage of the Manilla upgrade program will come in a few weeks when tenders are finalised for an estimated $700,000 project to reline more than five kilometres of sewer mains.
The contract for the job provides for relining work across the entire town network that will add years to the life of the system and cut down on sewerage problems from chokes caused by tree root intrusion into the existing pipe network.
The work is expected to take about 12 weeks to complete and will require the installation of about 80 new junctions or connections between houses and the sewer lines to replace existing ones. Mr Logan said many of these connections were past their use-by date, crumbling or susceptible to tree root invasion.
At Barraba, work is expected to begin on June 16 on the stop valve installation program, similar to Manilla’s stop valve upgrade. About 40 new valves will be installed to upgrade a network that services some 1,100 water users.
Construction along the roadside will be involved to put two new water mains in to improve flow and pressure to users. A new 240metre pipe will be laid along West Street to improve flow to the Trevallyn Road area and a 160metre main in Rodney St will improve circulation of flow and pressure for users off that line between West Street and Gotha Street.
Mr Logan said the upgrades would cause minor disruptions to supply in those areas and there will be some traffic changes and temporary road closures as a result of the works, but these would be notified to local areas.