Gloucester residents now have access to a reliable modern water supply network following the completion of the $27 million Gloucester Water Upgrade, which was unveiled at the Cemetery Road reservoir site on Wednesday 14 August.
Councillors, community members and media representatives joined MidCoast Council Mayor Claire Pontin and Council staff members for a tour of the upgraded site, which now boasts a host of new infrastructure, including a seven million litre concrete reservoir, a small elevated service reservoir and a chlorine dosing unit.
These additions, along with a range of improvements to the town's reticulation network, have eliminated various historical issues and allowed for old infrastructure to be decommissioned.
Council's Director of Infrastructure and Engineering Services, Rob Scott, said the upgrade was the largest engineering project undertaken in Gloucester since MidCoast Council was formed in 2016 and brought numerous benefits to the town.
"Gloucester's water supply network was designed at a time when the town was a lot smaller than it is now and unfortunately as the town grew, the system got added to, making it harder to provide a consistent level of water pressure and quality across the network," said Mr Scott.
"This project has eliminated the need to use pressure booster pump stations to provide water pressure to the higher parts of Gloucester, which was problematic because they often failed during power outages or in high use. Now the town can rely on consistent gravity-fed pressure and we can also ensure we can maintain adequate chlorine levels throughout the network.
"The increased storage provided by the large reservoir at Cemetery Road also means our operators don't have to pump from the Barrington River during wet weather, which allows us to run our water treatment plant more efficiently."
Beginning in 2021 and originally scheduled to take an estimated 15 months to complete, the Gloucester Water Upgrade hit a significant hurdle in April 2022 when the head contractor at the time went into liquidation due to economic challenges related to COVID-19. This set the project back more than 18 months, added around $6 million to the overall costs and resulted in a revised plan of delivery, with a new head contractor appointed to complete the works inside the Cemetery Road site and Council taking over the remaining works throughout the township.
Despite these challenges, Mr Scott said the commitment to the project from both staff and councillors was commendable. He also praised the Gloucester community for their ongoing patience over the last three years.
"I think everyone has understood how important this upgrade is to Gloucester," he said.
"Now we've addressed these issues with the network we can turn our attention to providing water security to the area, with Council committing to building an off-stream storage dam in Gloucester in the next two decades as part of our most recent long-term water strategy. Adequate water supply combined with a reliable water network will help drive growth and prosperity in the area."
To learn more about how the Gloucester Water Upgrade was delivered, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awFtnukZLKY
