The longest underground drilling project in Logan’s history is now underway.
Council is using a horizontal directional drilling (HDD) method to lay pipes over 1.32 kilometres from Greenbank to Flagstone.
The project will connect Greater Flagstone to Council’s state-of-the-art wastewater facility in Cedar Grove.
The use of underground drilling technology avoids clearing around one hectare of vegetation.
Logan City Council Roads and Water Infrastructure Acting Director Daryl Ross said the outcome was a win for the local environment and Council.
“This project will have less environmental impact on Flagstone Creek and Abrade Creek,” he said.
“It also reduces the impact on local wildlife habitats of koalas and grey headed flying foxes,” Mr Ross said.
“It’s a great environmental result and is a significant cost saving for Logan City Council.”
Mr Ross said the construction of the wastewater pipeline would be one of two Australian-firsts in Council’s use of new technology.
“This is the first time in Australia that a high-stress, crack-resistant polyethylene pipe is being used for a wastewater project,” Mr Ross said.
The expected design life for these pipes is 100 years.
“That offers the longest possible lifetime for a wastewater pipe and reduces the risk of issues during the installation process,” he said.
The project will also be the first in Australia to use an underground magnetics walkover locating system.
The system can track buried pipe up to a depth of 110 metres.
While this project will be up to 36 metres deep, conventional tracking devices are only able to track pipe to a depth of 20 metres.
Completion of the HDD project is expected by December.
