With gold playing a less important role in Gympie these days, Gympie Regional Council boasts a number of natural and historic wonders, including the Valley Rattler, Gympie’s Historic Steam Train, the Gold Mining and Timber Museums, dolphins at Tin Can Bay and the coloured sands of Rainbow Beach.
Gympie Regional Council covers an area of 6,790 square kilometres and manages approximately 330 kilometres of water mains and 360 kilometres of sewage mains. The Gympie water network is split up in a number of systems, with the water network in Gympie the main system and the second largest system located on the Cooloola coast. The remaining water mains under the management of Gympie Regional Council run throughout smaller towns in the region.
General Manager of Works East Division Greg Ingham has been working for Gympie Regional Council for two and a half years and considers the construction and maintenance, along with maintaining assets and interacting with the community, to be the most enjoyable parts of the role. Mr Ingham said that the most challenging aspect of the job is managing community expectation with the funding available to Gympie Regional Council.
The provision of water and wastewater services to the community is a priority for the council. Mr Ingham said that Trenchless Technology has played an important role in the water and wastewater networks in Gympie Regional Council, and installation, rehabilitation and renewal works often involve the use of hydroboring, HDD and pipe jacking.
One such example was the relocation and renewal work undertaken for the mains running under the 1,700 kilometre Bruce Highway before the highway’s upgrade, in which boring and jacking was used to lower and renew the sewer and water mains.
The council has also undertaken two major crossings using HDD underneath the Mary River. The first crossing involved installing 150 metres of 200 mm rising sewer pressure main. The ground conditions of rock and gravel underneath the Mary River, meant that it was a difficult project to undertake, so much so that the crew lost a cutter head during installation. Even more difficult ground conditions at the location of the second crossing meant that one crossing was not possible, and four adjacent mains were required to be installed instead.
In selecting the type of Trenchless Technology for council use, Mr Ingham said that having a proven track record would be essential in choosing a particular technology for a job and that the technology has been thoroughly investigated. As the council has a very strong commitment to maintain its workforce, any technologies investigated would have to incorporate or maintain the use of council labour. Other factors affecting the use of Trenchless Technology include cost and the potential for disruption.
The council has three managers involved with the trenchless projects – Darren Beutel, plumbing manager, Torm Turner, operations manager and Ian Schiefelbein, project manager. The council also works with contractors, by tendering and quoting, to deliver some of their trenchless works.
Challenges and future developments
Mr Ingham said that a particular challenge to the water and wastewater services in Gympie is the supply of quality water to small townships at a reasonable cost and their asset replacement program. At present, few water mains in the council are replaced or repaired annually.
These issues, however, are set to be resolved in the new asset management program currently being developed by the council. A long term inspection and repair schedule will be incorporated into the program to replace the short term management that is actively underway. Mr Ingham said that the water mains work is expected to increase over the next 15 years, with the water and sewerage on a ten year plan.
The council is also set to have CCTV inspection at all sewers program to be completed in three years and have an ongoing water supply leak detection program.
