ZB ZB
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

Contractors accidentally pour 2000 tonnes of grout into water main

Author
RNZ,
Publish Date
Mon, 15 Feb 2021, 5:09PM
Workers install the new Hunua 4 pipeline in Onehunga, Auckland. Screenshot / Watercare
Workers install the new Hunua 4 pipeline in Onehunga, Auckland. Screenshot / Watercare

Contractors accidentally pour 2000 tonnes of grout into water main

Author
RNZ,
Publish Date
Mon, 15 Feb 2021, 5:09PM

By RNZ

About 2000 tonnes of cement-like grout have blocked up a big new water main pipe in central Auckland.

It is having to be dug out after a big pour on the $400 million Hunua 4 water supply project went wrong.

It appears the equivalent of more than 150 mixer-trucks full of grout got poured before contractors realised it was going into the underground pipe instead of around it to support it, as planned.

Four months on, repair work is still going on near Khyber Pass.

"Our contractor is working to remove around 1000m3 of grout from the pipe," Watercare told RNZ today.

"Grout is not as strong as normal concrete but is still challenging to remove."

Watercare is still not sure what went wrong on the final section of the project.

"We need to finish removing the grout in order to identify how the incident occurred."

The repairs were being dealt with by its insurers and would not delay the final section much, it said.

Auckland's new water pipeline, called Hunua 4, will run from Redoubt Rd in Manukau City and finish at Khyber Pass in the central city. Image / Watercare

Most of the 31km-long, 1.6m-diameter pipe - inside a 3m-diameter concrete casing - is already in use, having been completed in stages.

The final stage of the nine-year project runs from Epsom to Khyber Pass, and is being installed mostly by tunnelling to reduce disruption.

The pipe is laid in the tunnel, then the gap between the pipe and the tunnel is filled with grout.

"Thankfully, we are able to carry out other work while we remove the grout to minimise delays to the overall project schedule," Watercare said.

It reported the problem to Auckland Council, its owner.

- RNZ

 

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you