Upper Nihotupu Dam

Brian Perry Civil replaced the raw water intake valves so they can be remotely activated, converting the lower intake to a dam safety valve and replaced the standpipe and work platforms.

The project also involved constructing a control room on the dam crest directly above the tower and a new concrete valve chamber at the toe of the dam. 

Access to site was not easy: A long, narrow single track gravel road with a cliff on one side and a drop into the reservoir on the other.  There was also a 6 tonne axle limit on the first bridge.  This meant no normal concrete trucks, no heavy, wide or long deliveries and a constant need to check and maintain the road.

Access to the lower work area was even more of a challenge with just a very steep set of steps going down the rear slope of the dam.  There was however a small tramline running from a compound area set-up and all deliveries, materials, equipment as well as manpower were driven down to this camp and loaded onto a small loco and wagons on loan from Watercare and taken by rail into the lower work area.

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A remote possibility
Watercare’s Upper Nihotupu Dam high in the Waitakere Ranges has been feeding Auckland’s water supply since 1923.

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