Two underground basins, with a combined capacity greater than the indoor pool at AquaZone, will be installed over the next two months to help alleviate flooding in the Japan Street precinct.
During a storm, the basins will capture and retain up to 960,000 litres of water before slowly releasing it into the drainage system – a move that aims to reduce incidents of flash flooding.
Warrnambool Mayor Cr Debbie Arnott said that the low lying nature of the area meant that flooding would always be a risk, but the new project aimed to reduce its impact as much as possible.
“A similar system, although on a smaller scale, was installed in Gibson Street recently and is working well,” she said.
“Where you have a one in two year or a one in five year rain event that often led to flooding in Japan Street, these are the events we expect this system to be most beneficial with.
“As part of the same project, we have installed new drainage pits in the area to help get more stormwater into the basins more efficiently during heavy rain and this will limit the amount of water entering the nearby holiday park and neighbouring properties.”
Japan Street will be closed between Koroit Street and Williams Lane from Monday September 18 for approximately four weeks while the first basin is installed. Once this is finished, Japan Street will then close between Williams Lane and Barkly Street while the second basin is installed, again with the closure expected to be for four weeks.
Access to properties will be maintained.
At its June meeting Council awarded the tender to Duggan Civil for $936,977.
The project utilises $850,000 in Australian Government funding via the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, with the balance to come from Council’s Drainage Fund.