Last week, the water supply to Braidwood was interrupted when there were two distinct breakages on the 300mm diameter section of the trunk main from the off stream storage dam.
Precise reasons for the breakages are unclear, but Palerang engineer Gordon Cunningham suspects that the main is under some degree of stress from its trench supports as a result of some poor installation techniques
The other complication was that the pipe is of an odd dimension, not compatible with usual 300 mm diameter pipes and whilst there was some repair components in stock, there was not enough to cater for 2 separate and concurrent repairs. "The odd size meant that we were not able to secure emergency parts from any of our nearby neighbours such as Goulburn Mulwaree or Queanbeyan City Council" said My Cunningham.
The necessary components to effect the 2nd failure were flown is especially from Queensland on Wednesday the 8th with works being finalized about 8pm on that day.
"The delay in securing the parts meant that we had to run the main with some degree of loss over the night of the 7th and day of the 8th in order to at least maintain some supply to the town. The main is the sole supply to the town's reticulation network. The interruption to supply in the latter part of the 8th was a result of the actual repair work" said Mr Cunningham.
Council now has sufficient stock of spare parts to cover any reoccurrence of the above.
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