Bridgewater creek reinforced ahead of sewer upgrade

Work is underway to install erosion protection along Cox Creek in Bridgewater, as part of safely enabling SA Water’s upgrade of the local sewer network.

This pre-construction work will see crews install around 40 metres of gabion walls across two sections of Cox Creek along Ayr Street, ahead of an upgrade of a 100-millimetre-diameter sewerage pipe later this year.

SA Water’s Senior Manager of Capital Delivery Peter Seltsikas said stabilising the creek’s banks, using support structures like gabion walls is an important component of preparing for the future upgrade.

“To take advantage of gravity, some of our infrastructure is often located parallel to watercourses to carry sewage from higher points in the network to our pump stations,” Peter said.

“One of the pipes on Ayr Street actually travels beneath the creek to the other side, transferring the local neighbourhood’s sewage to our pump station and onto the local wastewater treatment plant.

“Before we can upgrade this 100-metre-long pipe, we need to stabilise the creek’s banks to mitigate the risk of erosion or land slippage while working with heavy machinery in the watercourse.

“The three-tiered gabion wall – which is made up of specialised steel baskets filled with rocks – will also play a vital function in supporting the banks through any future high flow events, to ensure our infrastructure remains intact.

“As part of the work, our construction partner – Fulton Hogan – will be dredging these sections of the creek and breaking through some of the existing rock wall to enable the installation of the gabion walls.

“Once this is completed, the creek’s banks will be reshaped and empty gabion baskets will be lifted into place, then carefully filled with rocks using an eight-tonne excavator.

“While work is underway, our project team will continue working through a design for the new pipe, with this construction expected to commence during the summer months, to take advantage of dry conditions.”

The current pre-construction stage of the project is expected to be completed by late June, with typical construction hours taking place between 7am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Mr Seltsikas said the community will still be able to use the nearby section of the Heysen Trail along Cox Creek.

“For the safety of our crews and the community, the short loop trail which branches off the Mylor to Mount Lofty trail will be temporarily closed during our work, with the Heysen Trail remaining open,” Peter said.

“As much as possible, we’ll aim to minimise any impacts to the community during construction, such as dust or noise caused by the use of machinery and vehicle movement in and out of our worksite.”

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