A dam good job reigns supreme at national engineering awards
November 2008
A highly challenging two-year project to reduce leakage from the Arapuni Dam in the South Waikato was announced as the 2008 New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards Supreme Winner Award at TE PAPA in Wellington last night.
The Arapuni dam project took out not only the utilities and amenities award category it took out the overall Supreme Engineering Excellence award for New Zealand.
Engineers from Mighty River Power, Brian Perry Civil, Damwatch and Italian firm Trevi formed the Arapuni Alliance to develop solutions to overcome the water seepage problems to avoid detrimental environmental impacts on the local community. This project incorporated a unique alliance between local engineering specialists and Italian foundation engineer Trevi, which carried out a precision-drilling programme to stabilise fissures in rock beneath the dam.
The $20 million Arapuni project attracted international interest because it was the first of its type to be undertaken world-wide while the dam remained operational. David Elms, Convenor of the Category Awards judging panel said that the calibre of winning projects highlighted the difficulty and challenges overcome by the team of engineers.
“The rock foundations of the Arapuni dam had major clay filled fissure zones that could have been potentially washed away, which could have destroyed the 64-metre dam. The project team overcome these challenges with inventive design solutions while keeping the dam’s power station fully operational,” says Mr Elms.
Work begain on the 80-year old Arapuni hydro dam on the Waikato River, in 2005 to fix a seepage problem that was first identified in the 1930’s.
The fourth New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for New Zealand engineering professionals. In 2005 work began on the 80-year old Arapuni hydro dam on the Waikato River, to fix a seepage problem that was first identified in the 1930’s.
The fourth New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for New Zealand engineering professionals. The awards are presented in two major areas: Individual Awards, that recognise leadership, entrepreneurship, and our young engineers; and Category Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Category winners.
The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are hosted by a consortium of five partners and 10 contributing organisations. The partners are: Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAE); Association of Local Government Engineering New Zealand Incorporated (INGENIUM); Electricity Engineers Association of New Zealand (EEA); Association of Consulting Engineers of New Zealand (ACENZ) and the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand (IPENZ.)
For more information contact:
Chief Executive, IPENZ, Engineers New Zealand.
Mobile: 021 311 879
DDI: 04 474 8935
Prepared by Julie Buchanan, Communications Manager, IPENZ, Engineers NZ,
Mobile: 021 479 885, DDI: 04 473 2028