By XAVIER SMERDON
AN INNOVATIVE system that transports more than 60 per cent of Melbourne’s sewage to the Western Treatment Plant in Werribee has taken out a Victorian Engineering Excellence Award.
The Werribee aqueduct, a 70-metre long and and 5.3-metre high and wide structure, was completed in January this year and last week won the category for infrastructure up to $20 million at the awards.
Project director Phil Corluka said innovation was the key to the success of the aqueduct project, which used an incremental launching method more commonly used in road bridge construction.
“By using a technique from another engineering field, we were able to eliminate any impact on the Werribee River, create safer working conditions and reduced financial costs,” Mr Corluka said.
Mr Corluka said Melbourne Water, which also took out two other awards on the night, was honoured to be officially recognised.
“Melburnians place a lot of trust in our organisation to deliver the best return on their water bills and these awards demonstrate that we’re on the right track with how we provide infrastructure for a city of four million people,” he said.
The aqueduct cost $20 million to build and install and replaced the existing, 50-year-old structure which was demolished at the end of the project.
