Background

The Mount Barker District Council owns and operates Community Wastewater Management Systems (CWMS) for the townships of Mt Barker, Littlehampton, Nairne, Brukunga (sewer), Echunga, Meadows and Macclesfield.  Each of these systems has a gravity pipe network to deliver the effluent/sewer to the respective treatment facility.  These gravity pipe networks have numerous inspection openings and manholes for maintenance purposes.  Some of the flushing points and manholes are located on or adjacent to private properties.

Over time the manholes which are constructed from concrete are required to be cleaned, repaired and treated to extend the life of these assets.  Failure to do this maintenance work would eventually result in the manholes collapsing which would require extensive costly repairs and substantial excavation on private properties.

For a number of years Council has conducted a manhole refurbishment program to ensure these assets are properly maintained.  Council’s sewer/effluent maintenance hole rehabilitation program is continuing in financial years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 to ensure these concrete access structures continue to function as designed and to extend the life of these critical wastewater assets.

Council has released the program to tender to ensure a best value for money outcome, the tendering process will require companies tendering (3 in total) to inspect the maintenance holes on the list to assist them with providing accurate pricing for their submissions to Council. If a maintenance hole is located in the rear of a property, the companies requiring access will make contact the property owner to arrange a suitable time to inspect. These inspections are non-invasive (as are the rehabilitation works they perform) and will take less than half an hour to complete.

Please feel free to contact Council’s Project Manager Damian Lethbridge on M:0458 000 554 or email: dlethbridge@mountbarker.sa.gov.au if there are any questions.

Please follow any traffic control in place for the safety of workers and all road users and refrain from parking vehicles in the vicinity while work is underway.

The following locations are included in the program:

Update August 2023

Council has released the program to tender to ensure the best value for money outcome. The tendering process will require companies tendering to inspect the maintenance holes to assist them with providing accurate pricing for their submissions to Council.

If you have a maintenance hole located in the rear of your property you can expect the companies requiring access to this maintenance hole to make contact with you to arrange a suitable time to inspect.

Access to these maintenance holes by Council or its contractors is very infrequent. Your co-operation and understanding is greatly appreciated & will ensure future access is kept to a minimum.

These inspections are non-invasive (as are the rehabilitation works that will be performed at a later date) and it will take less than half an hour to complete the inspection.

Update April 2023

The manhole rehabilitation program is now complete for the 2022/23 year.

Update January 2023

The manhole rehabilitation program will now commence in February 2023.

The work is performed on the inside of the Manholes and doesn’t require excavations, in most cases the contractors will complete the required works within two days

Update November 2022

Council's contractor, PPS, will commence the Manhole Rehabilitation program for 2022/23 in the second week of December and it is anticipated that the works will be completed by the end of January 2023 weather permitting.

PPS will make contact with property owners that have Manholes located on their properties to arrange access.

The work is performed on the inside of the Manholes and doesn’t require excavations, in most cases the contractors will complete the required works within two days.