New reservoirs in Pukekohe under way

9/04/2019


Down a country road in Pukekohe, something big is happening.
 
For five months, Watercare has placed almost 1,800  truck-loads of metal on a site in Runciman Road, on the outskirts of Pukekohe, in preparation for two new 50-million-litre reservoirs. It’s the first time we have built major reservoirs of this size since 1994, when the East Tamaki reservoir was constructed, and is just one of four reservoirs of this size throughout the Auckland region.

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Watercare project manager Faiz Salim says the project is progressing well: “The reservoirs are going to be very heavy and therefore a lot of time and effort has gone into placing, compacting and monitoring of the pre-load to ensure that the ground can handle the loading when the reservoirs are operational.”
 
The reservoirs will connect to the Waikato No 1 watermain and will provide residents in the north Franklin district, as well as Auckland with increased security of supply and greater resilience.
 
Currently, water is pumped from the Waikato Water Treatment Plant through the Waikato No 1 Watermain to a small concrete balancing tank (reservoir), which sits in a corner of the Runciman Road site. Once the new reservoirs are constructed, water will flow by gravity to the Redoubt Road reservoirs in Manukau.
 
The first reservoir will be completed in the later part of 2020 with the second reservoir being built in several years’ time as customer demand increases.
 
Reinforcing steel will be placed to start construction on the base of the reservoir over the next few months. This will be followed by the first of four major concrete pours to complete the reservoir base.
 
The reservoirs are approximately 12m high and 80m in diameter. The structure is made up of various precast concrete panels, with the roof being made up of 243 beams. A 180-tonne crane will be used to carefully place the large 20-tonne precast concrete wall units and roof beams that will form the structure.
 
We have planted more than 2,000 trees and plants around the perimeter of the site and further landscaping will take place once the reservoirs have been constructed.
 
The first reservoir is due to be complete next year.