First Steps Of Sewerage Project

The first steps of the mammoth project of providing the city with a new sewerage outlet were taken last month with the construction of the first of the 750 concrete pipes which will form the 6000 feet-long disposal pipe in Poverty Bay.

Of special design, the pipes will be "threaded" together on 14 high tensile steel strand cables, and are of a weight not quite bouyant when filled with air. when the pipe has been towed out to sea, it will be flooded, and will sink firmly to the bottom.

While the pipes are being constructed, preparations are being made for their assembly and ultimate launching with the clearing of land in the pine plantation adjacent to Stanley Road in Awapuni. Road. This area, across to Centennial Marine Drive, will be the site of the pumping station, and will also carry a railway line on which the pipeline will travel as it is taken out to sea.

Unfortunately, this necessitates the closure of Awapuni Road for about a year, so a diversion road has been built.

The whole operation will be the first of its type undertaken in New Zealand, but is comparable with that of Perth's scheme, in Western Australia.