The annual program, which takes place during the irrigation shutdown period from May 15 to August 14, has made considerable progress on several capital and maintenance projects.
G-MW Infrastructure Delivery Services general manager Warren Jose said the $10 million program would see channels desilted and treated for weeds, flume gates replaced, and bridges, culverts and regulator structures upgraded.
“We’ve treated weeds across 200km of 250km channel so far and removed silt from more than 30km of an expected 40km of channels as part of the major refurbishment of Waranga Western and Murray Valley channels,” he said.
“These works will extend the lifespan of these major channels and will enhance flows and ensure water gets through to our customers as and when it’s needed.”
G-MW is also undertaking repairs on many of its flume gates.
“Our flume gates are the integral units that regulate flow throughout the network. We’ve replaced 26 out of 34 so far,” Mr Jose said.
“All of the gates we are installing have been refurbished at our gate repair workshop, which means we only need to add new parts such as gearboxes, motors, cables and radio boards to make them operational again. This helps keep our costs low.”
One of the 25 channel bank and structure upgrade projects is the Barnes Rd bridge replacement near Cobram.
“This project is ahead of schedule, with a key milestone being the delivery of the precast bridge beams to the site next week,” Mr Jose said.
Despite the short timeframe to complete a large amount of work, Mr Jose said meticulous planning by G-MW guaranteed the organisation’s success in meeting its targets.
“We have about 60 G-MW staff deployed during the program in addition to roughly 40 contractors so it’s a very busy period for us,” he said.
“The safety of our staff, customers and the local community is always our priority and will continue to be at the forefront for the successful delivery of the winter works program this year.”
The winter works program will be completed by August 14 to allow channels to be recharged and ready for the start of the 2023-24 irrigation season on August 15.
For more information about winter works, including an interactive map of where works are happening, go to: www.g-mwater.com.au/winter-works
You can also listen to field services manager Tony Corbett talk about the program in the Talking Water with GMW podcast by going to www.g-mwater.com.au/ podcast-talking-water-with-gmw or the Pod Bean, Apple or Google podcasts.
16°C