November 12, 2004

Pumping station replacement good news for Milford

One of the culprits contributing to wastewater overflows at Milford Beach is about to be contained.

North Shore City Council is about to start building a new pumping station to handle wastewater from residential properties in Milford and Castor Bay.

The $1 million project for the new Margery pumping station involves replacing the current small system with a larger underground pumping station in Seaview Rd, Castor Bay.

The council's wastewater network projects manager, Dave Woods says the old Margery pumping station has serious access and maintenance difficulties and because of insufficient pumping capacity frequently overflows following heavy rain.

The old station is close to the stream running along the boundary of Brian Byrens Reserve," he says. "Every overflow has a serious downstream effect because the stream running along the reserve's boundary flows into the Wairau Stream which discharges into the Milford Marina and onto Milford Beach."

Mr Woods says the new pumping station will increase the capacity of the local wastewater system to cope during heavy rain and will help keep Milford's marina and beach clean.

Engineers will first investigate the ground conditions to establish the best method for construction. Once this is confirmed, a rectangular concrete caisson or box will be erected on the site outside the Milford Bowling Club and sunk in to the ground.

Spoil will be removed from within the 6m x 7m area forming a 6m deep cavity to house the underground pumping station. The only clues to what lies beneath the completed station will be a control room at street level, obscured by attractive landscaping.

Dave Woods says sewer pipes in some streets around the area will be upgraded as part of this process.

Our team will shortly position drilling rigs at the proposed site in Seaview Rd to bore holes at each corner of the proposed caisson. This exercise will identify any obstructions such as submerged boulders and tree trunks.

While our investigations will last only a few weeks, we expect the construction of the caisson, the new pumping station and local sewer pipe upgrades to take about 30 weeks.

Residents should welcome this major project, which will improve the water quality of the local marina and recreational beach.

Traffic along Seaview Rd will be reduced to one lane near the Milford Bowling Club for about three months, however we'll advise local residents in advance and put up signs to alert motorists to any road disruption or redirection," Mr Woods says.

The Margery pumping station project is part of North Shore City's Project Care programme, designed to improve water quality across the city.

ENDS

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