New Sewer Pump for Lawler Street – Yarram

Monday, April 8th, 2019

As part of South Gippsland Water’s commitment to providing a reliable, safe and efficient wastewater service, significant upgrade and renewal works are occurring at Yarram’s Lawler Street sewer pump station.

South Gippsland Water Managing Director Philippe du Plessis said “The sewer pump station has served the township well, but we have identified that the pump station no longer meets capacity or occupational health and safety requirements and along with being some 30 years old, upgrades are needed to increase pumping and storage volumes at the site.”

During April work will begin at the pump station including construction of a new pump well, muncher pit and two new pumps will be installed. Most of the infrastructure will be buried, however above ground the existing buildings will be demolished to make room for the new pump station and the installation of 7.5m vent poles, new valve pits, an above ground switchboard and 180kW back-up power supply generator. The existing pump station will be converted into 385kL of emergency storage to allow the system to better cope with storm events.

Two new pumps will be installed and, though only one will operate at a time, another will always be on standby as a back-up. Pumping capacity will increase to 75L/second which will provide increased efficiency when pumping wastewater nine kilometres to the Tarraville Wastewater Treatment Plant.

“This is a significant investment in infrastructure upgrades, however, some existing infrastructure will be repurposed,” added Mr du Plessis.

Once the new pump well is constructed the existing pump well will be converted to cater for excess and emergency storage. The two pump wells will increase storage capacity and, along with new pumps processing greater volumes of wastewater, the pump station will be capable of coping with storms rated at a one-in-five-year event.

Site preparation, excavation and construction will occur between April and November. South Gippsland Water advises that traffic management will be in place as this activity will have an impact on pedestrian and vehicle traffic along Lawler Street and pedestrian traffic on the path between Yarram Memorial Park and Lawler Street. Also of note is that a portion of the public car park adjacent to the swimming pool and pump station will be secured for use by construction crews. South Gippsland Water will endeavour to minimise the impact of the project on nearby residents and businesses but, due to the nature of the work involved, there may be periods of increased heavy vehicle movement, noise and sewer odour.

“We acknowledge this project will cause disruption in the short-term, but the good news is that the upgrade will bring environmental, health and safety benefits for Yarram,” confirmed Mr du Plessis.

“The project will increase storage and pumping capacity, reduce the risk of sewer spills, and provide greater network efficiencies for us and for our customers.”