Greater Shepparton City Council Director Infrastructure, Steve Bowmaker, says the Council has a number of stormwater drainage outfalls into the Goulburn River. “The area near Marungi Street was surrounded by dead branches and concrete rubble, which have now been removed so works could be carried out,” said Mr Bowmaker.
The project involved upgrading an existing outfall and diverting another outfall into a newly constructed 1200mm drainage pipe, the installation of a gross pollution trap, and the regrading and regeneration of the river bank.
“When we investigated the sites they both showed signs of disturbed ground around each stormwater outfall indicating unstable ground,” said Mr Bowmaker. “The first stage of the works was the reconstruction of the drainage outfall which involved stabilising the waterway bank with concrete headways.”
“The construction has been quite difficult as Council needed to keep the outfall operational whilst undertaking the work. A gross pollutant trap was installed at 4.5 metres deep along with drainage pits and the 1200mm pipes and concrete headwall.”
Mr Bowmaker says the second stage involves connection of a smaller outfall into the 1200mm outfall. This work is expected to be completed prior to the end of June 2015.
The cost of the works is $310,000 which was funded under Council’s Capital Works budget and from the State government flood grants.
