The first stage of a major stormwater system upgrade in the vicinity of Ōhope’s Maraetōtara Stream is expected to begin next week.
A contract for the $700,000 project has been awarded to Waiotahi Contractors Limited, and physical works will get underway as soon as a resource consent is issued, possibly as early as Tuesday, 28 October.
Whakatāne District Council Infrastructure General Manager Tomasz Krawczyk says the first part of the project will conclude on 12 December, with the installation of piping resuming on 9 February next year.
“We will be installing considerably larger piping mains to the west and east of the stream, so there will be some impact on traffic movement along Pohutukawa Avenue while that work proceeds. To ensure that there is no disruption during the busy holiday season, we’ll leave the area as tidy as possible and resume work after a nine-week break,” he says.
The project will see the existing 375 mm stormwater main to the west of the stream replaced with a 900 mm line, providing a seven-fold increase the drainage capacity in that area. A small overflow outlet, which diverts rainwater into the Maraetōtara Reserve when the stream is in flood, will also be replaced with a 600 mm line. On the eastern side of the stream, the existing 900 mm main taking stormwater from the Bluett Road area will be replaced by a 1350 mm line providing twice the drainage capacity.
“Those upgrades will considerably improve drainage in the lower stream catchment during extreme rainfall events, and in conjunction with the improvements undertaken in the upper catchment, should greatly reduce the likelihood of flooding in the urban area,” Mr Krawczyk says. “It should be noted that the effectiveness of the upgrade will be dependent on the stream level, and if peak flows in the stream and stormwater system coincide, some flooding is still possible. A fail-safe solution would involve the future installation of a pump station, which can be incorporated in the upgrade at a later date.”
The second stage of the stormwater project will focus on the residential area between Bluett Road and Te Akau Street. Potential solutions in that area are still being investigated, with design development expected to be completed early next year and the physical works required in place before winter.