Update on the Richard Street works
From Ōpōtiki District Council, Engineering Services Group Manager, Stace Lewer
We appreciate the patience of residents, businesses, and the rest of the community as Stormwater pipe laying works on Richard Street continue.
It was a good milestone to see the Richard Street and Church Street intersection sealed in the past week. That tidies up the area significantly making it easier for people moving through and around the site.
These works were always going to be lengthy, but we had hoped to complete most of the work and get some areas resealed before the worst of the winter weather. However, for various reasons, our contractors haven’t been able to meet this timetable.
Contractors have struggled with delays and complications facing most industries: covid absences and staffing, supplies, repairs, and of course the very wet weather we have had over the past couple of months.
In addition, when Council inspected the pipe early in the process, several sections did not pass the quality assurance and needed to be relaid. This was at the contractor’s expense, not ratepayers.
The contractors have worked very hard to resolve this and brought in additional technical support and sub-contractors to make up for lost time. Good progress has been made recently with the spell of fine weather and the target date for completion (subject to weather and meeting QA), is mid September.
It is also worth noting that the works are more than just stormwater pipeline works. The contractor is also drilling to install a wastewater rising main from the pump station on SH2. The contractors have successfully piped under SH2 and along Church Street. This will continue towards the intersection of Church Street/Richard St near the Ōpōtiki Primary School over the next week. When complete, the area will have a dedicated wastewater rising main and will reduce the possibility of wastewater backing up in low-lying areas within the catchment.
Background on stormwater works:
The Tarawa Creek catchment is Ōpōtiki’s largest stormwater catchment and it covers around 60% of the town. There are a few stormwater projects on our books that will work together to help reduce the impact of flooding in the catchment, including the current upgrade of Richard Street stormwater pipeline.
Due to the growing impacts of climate change, we can expect more frequent and more extreme weather events than we have seen in the past. However, the current stormwater pipe that runs under Richard Street is too small for even current events and that has led to some of the ponding we’ve seen during large rainstorms. The upgrade currently underway will reduce overland flow and ponding in Goring Street, the primary school grounds and surrounding St John Street area.
