THE DAMS safety watchdog has issued a “please explain” to Armidale Dumaresq Council over its year-long delay in Dumaresq Dam’s safety upgrade.
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Also, designs for strengthening the wall have not been peer reviewed, Dams Safety Committee engineer Steve Knight said.
“Considering the project is now almost a year past Council’s own schedule ... the committee requests Council provide by November 27 an expedited date of completion ... for the project ... and an independent peer reviewer’s sign-off letter,” Mr Knight wrote in a letter to Armidale Dumaresq general manager Glenn Wilcox.
The issue arose three years ago, when the Dams Safety Committee advised Council it had to revise the dam wall’s standard to withhold a catastrophic event. After community consultation councillors agreed to a $3.4 million plan that would see concrete buttressing downstream of the existing wall.
Consultancy company Arup was tasked with designing an upgrade to the wall.
Its costs have blown out by more than $70,000.
Mayor Herman Beyersdorf said the project was “a bit late”, however, work was progressing and “we cannot change the past”.
