Wagga's leaky, ageing and bird-poo contaminated water reservoir has been put to rest and replaced with two state-of-the-art, artificial intelligence-controlled reservoirs.
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The two 11 megalitre reservoirs on Willans Hill were unveiled on Wednesday by a team of engineers, who have been working on the project for the past three years.
One of them was Riverina Water director Bede Spannagle, who said the old 1950s reservoir was essentially a "massive hole in the ground" that was urgently in need of a modern upgrade.
"The old reservoir was subject to chlorine loss through sunlight and ducks, and what ducks do in water, so these new reservoirs will ensure the safety and quality of our water," Mr Spannagle said.
"These are fully automated; we don't need someone to operate it and make sure it's full, it does all that thinking for itself."
Mr Spannagle said they are currently working on an options paper to figure out what to do with the old reservoir, and they are considering the possibility of making it a walking track or turning it into a wetland.
Engineer Anjanee Bichani said the new reservoirs had been a very demanding feat of engineering to pull off, but that they were proud of the final result.
"It's been a long journey. There was really hard rock we encountered," Mr Bichani said.
"The contractor described as the hardest rock they've ever seen, so we've had to blast this site, clear the rock, make a formation for the earthworks. I have learnt a lot of things, but by the end of the day it was a great achievement."
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Earthworks on the Willans Hill site started in 2018 with blasting to remove 60,000 tonnes of earth and rock.
The two reservoirs were a $4.2 million project designed to increase efficiency and boost Wagga's water supply over the next few decades for its growing population.
Reservoir number two is already operational, however reservoir number one is still undergoing testing and will be ready to use in the coming weeks.
Roughly 1300 cubic metres of concrete was poured to build the two new reservoirs, which are joined by an elevated platform and covered with an aluminium roof.
The old reservoir has been decommissioned, and it is currently sitting empty while its owners think of another use for it.
Kenji Sato
Kenji Sato is a handsome journalist at The Daily Advertiser who enjoys writing flattering bios about himself in the third person. He can be contacted by email at kenji.sato@dailyadvertiser.com.au or by mobile on 0448 927 612.
Kenji Sato is a handsome journalist at The Daily Advertiser who enjoys writing flattering bios about himself in the third person. He can be contacted by email at kenji.sato@dailyadvertiser.com.au or by mobile on 0448 927 612.
