GHD designed and installed the first low pressure sewerage
scheme in North Queensland as part of an innovative solution for
the client, Whitsunday Shire Council.
The challenge was to provide a sewerage service to
70 residential lots along a ridge at Shutehaven, which extends to
Shute Harbour.
A conventional gravity fed system would have required
placing the sewer line at the bottom of the ridge on the water’s
edge in this pristine environment. This would have
damaged much of the vegetation on the slope below the residences.
Instead, the GHD low-pressure system solution allowed the line
to run along the ridge road, resulting in a positive environmental,
aesthetic and community-friendly outcome.
The project presented a significant challenge
– connecting the new system back into the main sewerage
network. GHD solved this by including the design of a high pressure
pumping system to traverse a ridge, and detailed negotiations with
the Main Roads Department to locate the pressure main within a
constrained main road corridor.