Sewerage upgrade

By Dion Teasdale
YARRA Valley water has moved to improve sewerage capacity and better protect the local environment from sewerage spills by installing a massive new underground storage facility in Badger Creek.
The company is spending $650,000 to increase the capacity of Healesville’s sewer pump station, by constructing an extra underground sewerage storage facility on the corner of Badger Creek and Chalet Roads.
Installation of the underground concrete storage tank commenced in June and is expected to be completed in October.
Contractors have dug a 12 metre deep hole, which is 6.5 metres in diameter, using a unique piece of earthmoving equipment known as a Telescopic Clamshell.
Inside they have installed a 5.8 metre tall concrete tank, which will be able to hold around 150,000 litres of sewerage, and it will be buried more than five metres under the surface.
Project manager Tanya Pearson said the existing pump station located at the site, which services over 400 homes in Badger Creek and Healesville, facilitates the removal of sewage from the area and transports it to the local sewage treatment plant.
She said the new underground storage tank would significantly reduce the chance of spills and better protect the local environment.
“In order to protect the local environment and reduce the risk of overflows from the sewerage system, we are upgrading the pump station by constructing a large storage tank alongside the existing facility to increase its capacity,” she said.
The pump station and the new storage facility are located near Badger Creek Primary School and Ms Pearson said Yarra Valley Water had worked closely with the school to minimise disruptions.
She also said water and sewerage services in the area had not been affected by the upgrade works and that residents had been able to use their taps, do washing and flush toilets as usual.