Milestone achievement for Council sewer upgrade

The Christchurch City Council has achieved a key milestone in its Major Sewer Upgrade this month, with final tunnelling work completed for the Western Interceptor pipeline development.

The Western Interceptor project is part of the Council’s Major Sewer Upgrade, a 15-year programme of wastewater projects costing in excess of $150 Million.

The Western Interceptor pipeline has now been tunnelled the full length of St Asaph Street, through South Hagley Park and to the intersection of Blenheim Road and Dalgety Street, with completion of manholes, other additional sewer works and the reinstatement of roads scheduled for July 2012.

Council Chief Executive Tony Marryatt says the fact that the tunnelling work is now complete, having undergone some temporary delays caused by the February, June and December 2011 earthquakes, reflects the determination of staff to ensure the project proceeds as quickly as possible as part of the recovery.

“This is an excellent milestone for the City. Given the ongoing earthquakes, there has been a significant amount of work undertaken to ensure the Western interceptor project stays on track,” he says.

Council City Water and Waste Manager Mark Christison says the recent achievement is significant in terms of enabling the other projects within the upgrade development to progress.

“The upgrade project is of major importance to the City’s sewer infrastructure and, on its completion, will help to relieve earthquake-damaged sewers, reduce wet weather overflows into the City’s rivers, and aid future development to the southwest of the city including new subdivisions encompassing more than 10,000 properties,” he says.