The Waimea Dam has reached a big milestone with the closure of its culvert, allowing the reservoir to be filled over the next few months.
Waimea Water Ltd chief executive Mike Scott said they expected that the reservoir would be filled by October, depending on rainfall over the winter. The reservoir will hold 13 million cubic metres of water.
“I’m pretty confident now that we have closed that we will have water in time for the next season,” Scott said.
Although it had been a “gruelling” and “challenging” four years of construction, Scott said he was pleased that they could now provide “shareholders with the water supply and security they need for next summer”.
Tim Cuff
The Waimea Dam culvert was closed on Friday, allowing the reservoir to begin filling .
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The dam’s culvert was closed on Friday. The Lee River, which flows into the Waimea River, will be diverted through a temporary pipe over the next six months while the reservoir fills and permanent pipework is installed.
The initial date for closure was in March, but that was pushed back to May because of delays in receiving Quality Assurance documentation from the contractors, the Tasman District Council was told at the time.
Waimea Water’s quarterly report, released on Tuesday, said that there had been no change from the revised cost forecast in February of $198.2 million, although “further significant delays may again stress this estimate”.
Braden Fastier/Stuff
Waimea Water Ltd chief executive Mike Scott at the site of the Waimea Dam in March.
Scott said the residual risks were diminishing as the project neared completion. The main risks that remain pertained to “commercial and litigation” risks.
Asked about the Quality Assurance (QA) documentation, Scott said they had received sufficient documentation to close the culvert, and had an independent dam engineer expert certify that the dam was safe to fill.
“We had enough information, but there is still more quality assurance documentation to come,” he said.
The report also said that future operating costs were expected to increase due to higher insurance and financing costs.
Tim Cuff
The closure of the diversion culvert and reservoir at the Waimea Dam on Friday.
Scott said insurance premiums had risen dramatically across the globe following earthquakes and floods, and interest rates were rising.
Waimea Water Ltd is a council-controlled organisation responsible for managing the construction, operation and maintenance of the dam in the Lee Valley, about 36km southeast of Nelson. The council and Waimea Irrigators Ltd are shareholders in the project.
It is the first large dam to be constructed in New Zealand in 25 years.
The joint-venture contractor for the build, Fulton Hogan Ltd and Taylors Contracting, has entered into arbitration proceedings, disputing decisions made by both the engineer and the adjudicator.
Scott said that process “might be a number of years yet”.
The delay in closure also meant that the “subsequent completion and commissioning of the mechanical works and project is correspondingly also delayed” until December 2023, the report said.
“We're about a year later than we thought we'd be,” Scott said.
“But I'm incredibly proud of the effort that our team have put into solving engineering challenges and getting us to this point.”
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May 31, 2023 at 02:07AM
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Waimea Dam to be filled over winter, aiming for summer flow - Stuff
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