A NEW walking track and parkland area on the site of the former Turriff Lodge wetlands area is expected to open to the public sometime this Wednesday despite not being fully ready. With one section still to complete, the new-look area is set to re-open to the public on Wednesday, TasWater has announced today.
Project manager Derrick Clack said the twice-extended project was a rewarding one despite proving more challenging than anticipated. The water company has decommissioned and rehabilitated the artificial wetland that was built as a water-treatment method about 20 years ago when the Turriff Lodge sewage plant was owned by the Derwent Valley Council.
“This has been a great project to deliver because we know just what the parkland means to the local community, and we have worked hard to get it right,” Mr Clack said. “We needed far more rock and fill to remediate the site than we originally thought and some of the northern section still needs to be completed, but we do not want to make the public wait any longer for us to reopen the area.
“Anyone heading out to take a first look after Wednesday will see that following heavy rains, the northern section of the grounds was too soft for heavy machinery, so we must wait longer for it to dry before resurfacing with topsoil,” he said. “The area will continue to settle and dry over the coming months, and as the vegetation gets more established, we’re confident this will become an area the Derwent Valley and its many visitors will enjoy.”
Hundreds of new trees are continuing to establish and the walking tracks around the former wetlands are ready for visitors. Further work to complete the project is planned in the coming weeks.
TasWater advises that the area will not be open in time for early walkers on Wednesday morning but the fences will come down sometime on Wednesday.
Picture: A file photo of earlier work on the removal of the Turriff Lodge artificial wetlands area.
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