Water is on the menu

Marton Dam

There’s a song from The Byrds you may recall, You don’t miss your water until your well runs dry! In the case of Marton’s water supply, the well hasn’t run dry but we have been managing the supply in recent months so that it doesn’t.

Council lowered the levels at the dam last year, so as not to put too much pressure on the dam which was in need of repair. Then with the dry summer we have just come through, the water level fell even further, necessitating restrictions on water use for Marton. These restrictions were able to be removed at the beginning of May.

And along with the removal of water restrictions, work has been done on repairing the dam so that it can be restored to full capacity and a bountiful water supply into Marton homes can resume.

Work on the repair of the dam spillway was carried out by Rock Control Ltd, ground engineering specialists. The company started work in April and after completing the initial repairs, the contract was extended to repair the B dam, this subsequent work will take approximately 6 weeks.

“It’s quite an undertaking.” says Council’s head of Infrastructure, Arno Benadie. “The contractors have to clear all vegetation from the spillway channel, drill through the spillway base slab, record depths of voids and pour grout under low pressure to fill the voids.”

“This is a significant amount,” explains Council CE, Peter Beggs. It is an indication of Council’s intent to ensure the District’s infrastructure delivers a quality level of service and meets the needs of our residents and ratepayers.”