Contractors are wrapping up a $10 million sewer pipeline project that adds huge capacity to Ashburton’s wastewater network.

The Ashburton Relief Sewer (ARS) project began a year ago and is almost complete, ahead of a March deadline for works that received shovel-ready funds from Government last year.

Ashburton District Council contracted ACL and Seipp Construction to build 5.1km of new sewer pipeline from Bridge Street, through the Hampstead Rugby Club grounds, then out to and along Albert Street, Wakanui Road and Milton Road to the Ashburton River.

The pipeline connects to the recently constructed sewer pipeline under the river and pump station that takes wastewater from Ashburton’s toilets, sinks and drains to the Wilkins Road wastewater treatment facility at Tinwald.

ACL constructed 3km of pipeline from Bridge Street to the intersection of Wakanui Road and Milton Road; with Seipp constructing the remaining 2.1km along Milton Road to the river.

Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown paid a visit to the last worksite last week and said it was great to see the project in its final stages.

“Considering we had a major flood that raised groundwater levels near the river, and covid has been a black cloud, this project has gone fairly smoothly.

“The only outstanding work is to decommission the pump station at Geoff Geering Drive, complete a small section of pipework In Braebrook and abandon a retention tank on Bridge Street.”

“We know people have been impacted at different times over the past 12 months, and we thank them for their patience and understanding. This project is important to our wastewater network and it means the expected household growth in the next few decades will not stress our pipelines and facilities.”

The project received a grant of $7.9m from the Government as part of its Covid stimulus package for shovel-ready work.

Council Infrastructure Group Services Manager Neil McCann said a challenging aspect of the project was tendering the contract immediately once the government funding was approved, and placing the order for the large pipes before the demand increased substantially from other projects in the South Island.

“Fortunately ACL and Seipp Construction started construction early in 2021, and despite COVID lockdowns and weather events, they managed to deliver the contracts within programme and budget.”

“We would like to thank the community for their patience during construction, particularly those affected by the road closures and detours.”