$600k repairs for reservoir dogged with problems
Newly-discovered damage to one of Stratford’s water reservoirs has seen the cost of repairs double to $600,000.
An inspection of the town’s 47-year-old reservoir was undertaken after the Stratford District Council (SDC) built a water treatment plant and a second reservoir in 2014 to meet new drinking water standards.
In an information report to councillors last week, the council’s director of assets, Sven Hanne, said they had initially budgeted $300,000 to clean, inspect and repair the original reservoir.
‘‘The original inspection report aligned with our expectations regarding the required work and the resulting tender for the repair work came in within the set budget,’’ Hanne said.
‘‘However, soon after the work inside the reservoirs commenced further defects were identified.’’
The tops of the floor-to-ceiling columns that hold the roof up were found to be damaged and work on the site was stopped until scaffolding could be brought in to make the site safe, at a cost of $40,000
Hanne said purpose-built brackets were being designed and made to reattach the columns to the ceiling.
A second inspection had also found differences between the design drawings and the actual construction, which had caused $30,000 of design changes and another $20,000 of new design work.
The roof panels would need to be jacked back into place and, along with the cost of making the new brackets, would add between $150,000 to $200,000 to the project, bringing it close to $600,000.
Hanne said if the full extent of the repairs had been known at the start of the project they would have looked at a different plan but as the repairs had already started, it was best to carry on and complete them.
‘‘To re-start this project at a later stage would significantly increase the total cost and leave the Stratford water supply extremely vulnerable to outages over the summer period,’’ he said.
It would cost approximately $1.2 million to $1.4m to demolish the existing reservoir and build a new one and repairing the existing one would give it a useful life of 45 to 50 years.
At its policy and services committee meeting last week, councillors also reviewed a draft reserve management plan for King Edward Park.
Suggestions for the plan include allowing cyclists to use some of the tracks through the park, building new toilets, changing rooms and showers at the Page St sports fields and a total refurbishment of the Centennial rest rooms in the 2017/2018 financial year.
The Fenton St rest rooms were built in 1948 and the plan said they were ‘‘somewhat dated and dysfunctional by today’s standards’’.
The plan, which will go out for public consultation before being fully adopted, also includes developing wheelchair accessible tracks, installing lighting around the park and upgrading the signage around the walkways.
The park was originally set aside as a reserve in 1885 and in 1902 became known as King Edward Park after a collection of trees were planted and a bridge was built over the Patea river to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII.