IN the coming four months Armidale Dumaresq Council’s contractor Insituform Pacific will reline and repair around 11 kilometres of sewer pipes, a small part of the 225km network that carries wastewater to its sewage treatment plant.
Council’s utilities technical officer Mark Byrne said that while most residents take it for granted, a city’s sewer network plays a vital role in protecting public health and the environment.
“The first sewers were installed in Armidale in the 1930s and the system has grown significantly since then,” he said.
“Like all infrastructure the network requires ongoing maintenance and repair to ensure it continues to do its job properly.”
Mr Byrne said the ground the city’s sewer pipes were built in was affected by seasonal temperature changes and periods of drought and rain.
“This can cause joints in the pipes to be displaced and small breaks to open up,” he said.
“These faults lead to infiltration of ground water and over time, tree roots can find their way in, causing blockages and overflows.”
Sewer relining contractor Insituform Pacific has been working in Armidale since early 2012, relining sections of pipe identified by the council as needing attention.
They use a trenchless repair method known as a ‘cured-in-place-pipe’ or CIPP, which avoids the expense and inconvenience of having to dig up and replace pipes all over the city.
The whole process takes a couple of days from start to finish. The new pipe has a design life in excess of 50 years and since it has no joints, tree roots are unable to get into gaps, minimising the chance of blockages in the future.
Insituform’s project manager Adam Podolski said that the work would require access to manholes on some residents’ properties.
“We will be contacting those residents, as well as notifying other residents living near work sites, prior to starting work,” Mr Podolski said.
Anyone interested in finding out more about this project can call Mark Byrne at the council on 6770 3893 or Insituform on its freecall contact number 1800 450 081.
