More than two years after ex-Cyclone Debbie lashed the Northern Rivers and flooded towns from Murwillumbah to Lismore, work is due to start on mitigation works in South Lismore.
The Lismore City Council said in a press release the NSW government had funded $8.2 million for flood-mitigation efforts.
Previously, Lismore City Mayor Isaac Smith, a Country Labor member, had publicly called for the coalition-led government to follow through on promises for flood recovery funds but mitigation works are funded separately.
South Lismore Industrial Estate expansion
NSW Deputy Premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro said the project was vital for Lismore and was a great example of the government, council and community ‘working together to get the best outcome’.
Meanwhile, Lismore City Council Director of Infrastructure Services Peter Jeuken said the Lismore Floodplain Management Committee had endorsed the South Lismore Flood Mitigation Project.
Mr Jeauken said it was ‘part of a range of measures detailed in the Lismore Flood Mitigation Plan to help safeguard the community and increase disaster resilience’.
The council will reportedly oversee the project and said it had given a company called SEE Civil the earthworks contract.
SEE Civil is expected to remove 410,000m³ of material – soil, rocks and potentially vegetation – from a 58-hectare parcel of Council land.
The council said the excavated material would be used to fill nearby industrial land in Lismore’s floodplain and for expansion of the South Lismore Industrial Estate.
The other major part of the project is floodwater overflow diversion from Leycester Creek around the Lismore Regional Airport.
Recycled glass used to cushion sewer pipes
Modelling reportedly suggests the diversion should reduce peak water levels in Lismore’s CBD, North Lismore and South Lismore by as much as 10cm in a 1-in-100-year flood event.
The government’s Public Works Advisory unit will project manage building work, expected to take a year and the council said affected landowners would be consulted this work.
Preliminary work for the project had already started with the council having recently relocated two major sewer mains.
The pipes have been ‘bedded’ with 1500 tonnes of crushed glass from the Lismore Recycling & Recovery Centre for protection, a technique the Tweed Shire Council also recently used.
Mr Jeuken said it was ‘a great example of reusing a waste material’.
‘Plus there is a significant cost saving to the project from using this bedding material as opposed to traditional crushed rock,’ he said.
For more information go to yoursay.lismore.nsw.gov.au and click on the South Lismore Flood Mitigation Works page.
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