NEWS RELEASE
30 March 2005

Water quality gets a lift at Evans Bay

Toxic materials from boats washed down on the slipway at the Evans Bay Yacht and Motor Boat Club will no longer drain straight into the sea.

Wellington City Council has engaged contractor Fulton Hogan to build a new wash-down drainage system as part of an upgrade of boating facilities in Evans Bay.

Materials from anti-fouling paints washed off boats removed from the water will be diverted into the sewerage system, says Peter Hemsley, the Council’s Coastal Operations Project Manager. Residues, weed and anti-fouling paints will be collected in a sump, and then pumped into the sewerage system, rather than returning to the sea, he says.

The upgrade also provides for the construction of two finger jetties to be used by the Club’s travel lift for removing boats from the water, and moving them to storage on to the boat yard for maintenance.

The club purchased a travel lift (or straddle carrier), and put it to work early in 2003 in conjunction with the Evans Bay slipway. It can handle boats up to 35 tonnes and is used by many Wellington boat owners. But this original Wellington Harbour Board slipway, constructed between 1935-36, is not up to the job.

“The straddle carrier needed a specially designed facility,” he says.

The club leases the area from the Council and is in the process of renegotiating its old Harbour Board lease. “One of the terms of the lease is that we are responsible for the slipway below mean high tide; they are responsible for the maintenance of everything above it. The slipway was in very poor condition and the technology was very out of date,” Mr Hemsley says. “We are responsible for the infrastructure of the area leased to the club, and the rent will be increased to reflect the costs of the improvements.”

The club first applied for funding the infrastructure improvements slipway in 2002 and a meeting was held with Eastern Ward Councillors at the same time. The decision was made to put some funding in the long-term Council financial plan, Mr Hemsley says.

The contract price, of $509,112, also covers seabed dredging and deposition and the partial demolition of an existing finger jetty. Material from dredging will be used at the Evans Bay jetty to correct seabed levels at the end of the northern launching ramp. The engineers for the project are Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner.

Contractor Fulton Hogan started work this week. The expected date of completion is 29 July.

ENDS

© Scoop Media