A once in a generation project

The off-stream storage and award-winning fishway

The project to upgrade the Kyogle water supply was developed to tackle drought security and out of a need to improve water quality and increase the town water supply capacity.

Total cost of the project was $9.4 million, with $7.2 million combined funding from the NSW Government.

The upgrade included:

  • Decommissioning of the in-stream weir and construction of an award winning, innovative fish-way in its place
  • Upgrade of the existing river extraction pumping station
  • Construction of a 200ML off-stream storage dam, preliminary treatment and pumping facility, and
  • Upgrade of the town’s 1930s Water Treatment Plant to meet current water quality standards

For a full account of the water supply upgrade, you can view a promotional video (short version) (longer version) about the multi-million dollar project.

The project gives Kyogle:

  1. Improved drought resistance for the Kyogle water supply, with the off-stream storage facility being capable of holding a year’s worth of water for the town,
  2. Reduced water treatment costs by selectively pumping river water at times of low water turbidity and pre-treating the water at the off-stream storage facility,
  3. Reduced operational costs as a result of the new system being fully autonomous, meaning much less operator input
  4. Increased water treatment plant capacity from 3ML/day to 4.5ML/day, and
  5. Improved water quality with the upgrade of equipment and real-time water quality monitoring

The upgraded water treatment plant

The water supply upgrade was delivered in conjunction with the Kyogle Flood Modification project, which meant substantial project efficiencies and increased the town’s flood and climate change resilience.

The Kyogle Water Supply Augmentation project was a collaborative effort over a 15 year period with the following organisations contributing support:

  • DPI Water as a funding partner through the Restart NSW Water Security for Regions Program
  • NSW Public Works as designers of the fishway and managers of the construction contract process
  • MWH as the primary consultant for the concept studies and detailed design
  • DPI Fisheries providing expert advice in relation to the fishway
  • Kyogle Council as the water supply authority and also in pre-casting the concrete baffles for the fishway
  • NSW Environmental Trust as funding partners
  • NSW Recreational Fishing Trust as funding partners
  • CivilTeam Engineering as the principal contractor for some civil works
  • NJ Constructions as the principal contractor for supply side electrical upgrades
  • CNF & Associates as the principal contractor for electrical and mechanical works
  • FE March and Co. as the local contractor for electrical and mechanical works
  • MJ Smith Ground Preparation as the local contractor for some civil construction works including the completion of the fishway