Pipes being installed on Taylors Hill apart of Te Awamutu water supply project

Work a part of stage two of Waipā District Council's water supply project has started on Taylors Hill, the stage is expected to be completed by the end of November. Photo / Caitlan Johnston.

Motorists heading towards Hamilton and coming back into Te Awamutu would have noticed major construction taking place on Taylors Hill.

This work is a part of Waipā District Council's major water supply project, connecting the Te Awamutu water scheme with the Pukerima water scheme to address the water supply issue Te Awamutu is experience as the town's population continues to grow.

Te Awamutu currently relies on water from the Mangauika Stream on Mt Pirongia and the Frontier Rd bore.

The work on Taylors Hill is a part of stage two of the project which started in June last year and is expected to be completed by the end of November.

Stage two consists of more than 16km of pipes being installed over several roads in the Waipā District to connect the Parallel Rd Treatment Plant to Taylors Hill Reservoir.

So far, 11km of pipe has been installed and 5km has been pressure tested within stage two.

Work on Taylors Hill started a couple of weeks ago and is expected to take up to 10 weeks in total.

There are traffic cones laid out on Taylors Hill to divert traffic around the work area and the speed has been reduced from 70km/h to 30km/h.

The Parallel Rd Treatment Plant upgrade, stage three of the project, will be the final step in completing Te Awamutu's upgraded water supply and work is expected to start this month.

The upgrade work will take place on-site and involve building a new plant to treat water to modern environmental standards and will include increasing capacity at the treatment plant to cope with future demand.

The upgrade is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

A part of the work in stage one of the project installing pipes between Cambridge Rd and Parallel Rd was interrupted by Covid-19 and the nationwide lockdown but this work recommenced last month and final pressure tests passed recently and the road detours in place were lifted last week.

The road detour directed Te Awamutu-bound traffic down Lamb St, Roto O Rangi and McLarnon Rds.

There is still some work to be done on this part before stage one of the project is completed but the work that is needed can be done outside the road corridor.