Melbourne Water is planning to upgrade and rehabilitate several local sewers as part of an effort to extend their service lives for an additional 50 years.
The utility has already completed the Merri Creek Sewer Rehabilitation Project, which was a success. That project used trenchless technology to rehabilitate the sewer. The utility also plans to use trenchless sewer repair to rehabilitate the Williamstown Main Sewer and Brighton Main Sewer.
The Williamstown Main Sewer project is already underway and is expected to be completed by mid-2018.
The project includes manhole repairs. Sliplining will be used to rehabilitate and reline the manholes between Pasco St. in Williamstown and Scienceworks in Spotswood.
The Williamstown project will provide local communities with a more reliable sewer service while improving operation and public health. The project is also expected to eliminate foul odors, prevent blockages and extend the life of the sewer by an additional 50 years.
Rehabilitating the sewer will prevent the risk of sewage spills caused by dry weather.
The work will take place mainly around existing manhole locations. The project will reline the entire 4.4 kilometer stretch of sewer using trenchless technology
Relining and manhole works will continue through mid-2018. Multiple sites will likely be set up to help make the project quicker and more efficient. Restoration work will begin in the middle of next year.
The Brighton sewer line has been servicing the area since 1907. The rehabilitation project will extend its life another five decades.
The Brighton project is still in the design phase, but 4.6km of relining activities are planned for areas between Brighton and Hampton.
Investigation works were carried out between November and December. The investigation phase included traffic management and inspecting manhole covers on Orlando Street, Hampton and North Road.
The projects also include improvements for flow control and monitoring as well as manhole repairs. To minimize inconvenience, Melbourne Water chose to use trenchless technology to perform the repairs instead of complete sewer replacement.
With trenchless repair, the utility can avoid having to dig up the street and replace the entire pipe. Instead, a smaller hole is made into the pipe using special equipment, and pipe lining is injected. The lining fills in any holes or damage in the pipe to essentially create a new pipe.
Construction on the projects is expected to start in March 2018 and is estimated to take a year to complete.
Melbourne Water also has other projects in the works, which the public can still voice their opinion on. These projects include the M41 renewal project, Healthy Waterways Strategy and Dandenong catchment.
Among the other projects underway is the Air Treatment Facility upgrade at the Hoppers Crossing Pump Station. The goal of this project is to extend the sewer’s life and accommodate the region’s growing population.
The project includes: the installation of instrumentation and electrical work, pouring of the facility’s concrete foundations and decommissioning of the current facility.
The Hoppers Crossing project started in October of this year and is expected to take a year to complete.
