A barge and a crane will be temporary new features at Lake Mangamahoe while New Plymouth District Council upgrades key parts of the local water collection system.
The Council says the work on two water intakes will result in better-quality raw water being supplied to the New Plymouth Water Treatment Plant, which will make the treatment process more efficient. Also, new fish screens that meet industry best-practice will replace the current 40-year-old screens.
“It’s tricky when you’re working in a water environment like a lake so for part of the project, we’ll be bringing in a barge to work from,” says Council’s Project Delivery Manager, Sean Cressy.
“Public access will continue throughout the work, so people will have the opportunity to take a good look at how we’re upgrading these intakes, but because of a lack of space the road will be reduced to a single lane for a few weeks in March and June.
“At the end of this work, we’ll have an intake system that’s able to service our community for many more years to come.”
Work is due to start in the next few days at Lake Mangamahoe and will take six month to finish. One intake will be extended further and deeper into the lake while the other will be removed, to be replaced by a new intake built further down the lake.
A third intake, which draws water from the Waiwhakaiho River, will be upgraded next year.
The New Plymouth water scheme supplies properties in New Plymouth, Bell Block, Lepperton, Waitara, Tikorangi, Onaero and Urenui.
