Media Release 20 November 2003 2 pages

Jellicoe Street recommended to Council committee as pipe route

Jellicoe Street, which runs from South New Brighton Park to the sea, is recommended as the route for a new pipeline to carry the city’s treated wastewater out to sea, a report to the Christchurch City Council’s Sustainable Transport and Utilities Committee (STU) meeting on Tuesday 25 November says.

Mike Stockwell, the Council’s City Water and Waste Manager, says the recommendation of Jellicoe Street follows extensive consultation with the South New Brighton community. The committee report compares the outcome of consultations about Jellicoe and Beatty streets, along with relevant legal and technical advice.

Following the STU committee meeting on 25 November, the full Council is expected to make a final decision on the route at its meeting on 11 December.

“This recommendation will obviously not be a popular one with Jellicoe Street residents,” Mr Stockwell says. “However, the City Council has reviewed six possible routes for the pipeline. The recommendation to select Jellicoe Street has been made after taking into account issues raised during the extensive consultative process, as well as environmental, social and financial factors and input by experts on ecology, law, and engineering.”

The report also recommends that if Jellicoe Street is confirmed as the pipe route, that improvements to the street and the park be done as part of the pipeline project. It is recommended that the selected street be reconstructed as a Living Street, including placing power and telephone services underground.

"Once construction is finished, there will be an opportunity to redesign, replant and generally enhance the park in the vicinity of the pipeline, in consultation with the community,” says Mr Stockwell. “We’ll be working closely with the people living in the selected street, to ensure any issues are addressed as the pipeline project progresses.”

It is likely that portions of the pipeline will be constructed at sea, he says, which means that whatever street is chosen, the disruption will be much less than previously thought when prefabrication of the pipe may have been done within the domain.

“The disruption will be the same as for any other street in the city being dug up and having a large sewerage pipe laid along it,” Mr Stockwell says.

Notes

Whichever street is selected as the route, the pipeline will be run from the treatment ponds under the Avon-Heathcote Estuary. Down the street, the pipe will be run in the middle of the road, with about 1m of cover. The pipe will reach at least 2000m out to sea, buried all the way. A series of diffusers along the last portion of the pipe will make sure the treated water is well dispersed in the seawater.

ENDS

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