Somerton Road Branch Gravity Sewer
Yarra Valley Water
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Diona, with the support of our experienced pipelay and pit building crews, excavated and constructed the Somerton Road Branch Gravity Sewer for Yarra Valley Water’s community development expansion in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
Diona was engaged to construct two kilometres of gravity sewer main along Somerton Road, Greenvale, approximately 20 kilometres north of Melbourne CBD. The project involved the construction of seven maintenance holes with a final connection point inside a Melbourne Water reservoir.
The project featured a number of environmental constraints including protected trees and no go areas. Where clear access to services and land were possible, open cut trenching methods was used. In more built-up areas, trenchless horizontal directional drilling minimised disruption to residents and land owners.
Both construction activities worked together within the same vicinity, therefore reducing our footprint along Somerton Road and surrounding areas. Installation of the 355mm polyethylene pipe required long sections of open trench to lay from the HDD entry pit to maintenance hole locations.
Utilising a 35 tonne excavator for open trenching and pipe laying, and a 14 tonne excavator for the HDD crew, Diona was able to keep two crews working consistently on the project, achieving greater efficiencies in the pipe installation.
Diona consulted directly with Exxon Mobil and Melbourne Water to develop a methodology to construct the final connection inside the Melbourne Water Reservoir that suited both parties and approved by Yarra Valley Water.