Apex Oval Stormwater Harvesting and Playing Field Reconstruction Project
Dubbo Group of Engineers Australia held its final event for 2011 with 45 engineers embarking on a site visit to the Apex Oval Stormwater Harvesting and High Performance Playing Field reconstruction.
An impressive technical presentation by Dubbo City Councils Works Manager Ian Bailey was followed by a guided tour to the heights of the grandstand for a birds eye view of the detention tank with Director of Technical Services Stewart Mcleod. The engineers engaged in post-tour refreshments to conclude what has been a busy year for the Dubbo group with 12 professional development events taking place.
Dubbo City Council is engaged in an $11.5 million upgrade of Apex Oval, for which a Federal grant of $4.5 million has been obtained under the Water For The Future Program. One of the major components of the project is the construction of a 10 megalitre underground storage tank which will harvest stormwater for playing field irrigation purposes from the Council’s East Dubbo Drainage Scheme which runs through the East Dubbo Sporting Complex and drains an urbanised catchment to the east and south thereof.
Storage tank construction has commenced following completion of the bulk earthworks, which were complicated by the fact that Apex Oval had been a municipal landfill prior to its conversion to a premium football field. The tank is of interest because it will be composed of thousands of plastic Rain Smart Ellipse modules stacked together like Lego. They have been casually referred to as milk crates on a recent public tour offered to the Dubbo Community. These modules will be wrapped as a 10ML unit, in a watertight HDPE / Geofabric skin welded at the seams.
Once this tank has been completed, a high performance playing field will be reinstated as a premium sand-based turf surface of national playing standard.
If you would like to find out more about the activities of the Dubbo Group of Engineers Australia – please provide your current email address to stewart.mcleod@dubbo.nsw.gov.au.
