Southern pump station may be replaced

A pump station that helps drain water from more than 1500 hectares of reclaimed land near Invercargill is set to be replaced.

The ‘‘significant’’ cost of the replacement pump station is yet to be determined.

Environment Southland councillors were told, at a committee meeting this week, that investigations had begun to replace the Lake Hawkins Pump Station which drains a catchment area of 1556 hectares within the area from Currans Rd, Bay Rd, Stead St and the Waihopai River.

The area, including the Invercargill Airport land, is made up of reclaimed land from the upper Waihopai Estuary.

The reclaimed land was originally drained by floodgates but the pump station was built in 1964, with the pumps taking water from the 1500 hectare catchment into the Invercargill Estuary.

Invercargill Airport, which has a minor bank around it to give it some protection, is in the catchment area.

Environment Southland catch- ment engineer Paddy Haynes said the airport had its own pump station which pumps water into the surrounding catchment, which was then drained into the estuary via the Lake Hawkins Pump Station.

Maintenance had been carried out on the Lake Hawkins Pump Station on a ‘‘when required’’ basis during the years, but a report in April identified a work programme which has since been carried out.

Environment Southland is now considering the options and costs of replacing the pump station to maintain a satisfactory level of service to the airport and surrounding district in years to come.

The cost, unknown at this stage, will form part of Environment Southland’s long term plan considerations.

Haynes said part of the work would include replacing two underground pipelines.

Environment Southland director of operations Jonathan Streat said the work would be aligned with the Invercargill Ciy Council’s Stead St stopbank upgrade.