Ice Pigging moves to New Berrima, Welby, Colo Vale and Hill Top
Residents of New Berrima, Berrima, Welby, Colo Vale and Hill Top can expect even cleaner water as Council brings its clever pipe cleaning program to the townships over the next three months.
Called ‘Ice Pigging’, the procedure is part of Council’s ongoing program designed to maintain and improve the Shire’s underground network of water pipes.
The procedure involves pumping an ice-slurry, or ‘ice pig’, through water pipes to remove any built up debris which inevitably builds up in all water main systems.
“Ice-pigging is an efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to clean our underground water pipes,” said Council’s Water Coordinator Alan Butler.
Although it has similar characteristics of a liquid, ice-pigging takes on the properties of a solid when a ‘pig’ of ice slurry is formed within the pipe.
“Because it’s semi-solid slurry, it’s much more effective at scouring and cleaning the walls of pipes of varying diameters,” he said. “Importantly, it uses approximately half the volume of water of traditional pipe cleaning methods.”
Whilst the technology has been used for some time overseas, Wingecarribee Shire Council is one of the first Local Government regions in the State to use the technology.
“Over time minute particles of dirt, iron and manganese can accumulate in all water main systems,” Mr Butler said. “Using this technology is another way in which Council is proactively keeping the water supply from our taps clean, healthy and clear.”
Ice Pigging has been Council’s preferred method of water main cleaning since first trialed in Bundanoon and Exeter in 2013.
The latest Ice Pigging water main cleaning program will begin on 17 August and run until end of October 2015.
During this time Council maintenance staff will progressively roll out the program across all residential streets in New Berrima, Welby, Colo Vale, Hill Top and parts of Berrima.
Residents whose streets will be cleaned as part of the schedule will receive prior notification and advice on how to check which dates the program will affect their property.
“When we conduct the cleaning there will be a temporary outage to the water supply,” Mr Butler said.
“However a benefit of Ice Pigging is that apart from the water being safe to drink immediately following the process, because the process is discreet it means that typically any disruption is limited to less than two hours.”
For further information or to obtain the full street schedule and interactive map, visit www.wsc.nsw.gov.au/water-and-sewer-works-and-outages or contact Council’s Water Coordinator on phone 4868 0888.