Edgars Creek – Watercare Upgrade in Grey Lynn and Coxs Bay

Did you notice Wellpark Ave closed for almost a year? Works at the bottom of Francis St?

It’s all part of stormwater improvements to Edgars Creek which runs Stanmore St down to Fife St where it runs out to sea.

So what has Watercare been doing? We reached out to Watercare with the following questions.

Question

We are a community group, the Wellpark Streamers who have been working for 20 years doing ecological restoration mainly in the Wellpark Reserve. 

Edgars Creek became a raging torrent during the Jan 2023 floods. Sadly the house that is close to Wellpark Reserve flooded and will now be removed. Stanmore, Larchwood Ave, Wellpark Ave, Francis St, Fife are all of interest as the stream is piped. Homes in these streets all experienced flooding. 

Has any work happened on Edgars Creek in the Wellpark Reserve to stop the blocking that occurred in the Jan 2023 Auckland Anniversary floods? We can see some work in the area but wonder if this is for the Central Interceptor?

Answer

Thanks for getting in touch with Auckland Council regarding Edgars Creek.

In this area Auckland Council have been working on a few projects. I reached out to the project managers of these works, and they provided the following information. 

I hope this information helps explain the stormwater upgrades Auckland Council has been doing in the area.

 

Stanmore to Fife (Larchwood Section):

We are currently working on a relining project called the Stanmore to Fife (Larchwood Section). This is a work in progress.

Lines in YELLOW show the 1050mm diameter pipes. These are completed 

Lines in RED show the 750mm diameter pipes. These are remaining and should be completed by mid-May.

Stanmore to Fife (Stanmore Section):

As part of the Stanmore to Fife (Stanmore Section) project, we installed a new Stormwater Network.

This runs from Wilton Street through the back of Stanmore Rd properties and crosses under Francis Street to an outlet located at the back of 29 Francis Street. We installed approximately 330m of pipes ranging from 225mm to 1200 mm diameter pipeline, this also includes new catchpits and manhole structures. This system was designed to provide a lot of storage capacity in that catchment.

 The project was completed in April 2024.

An Impact Basin was also installed as part of this project. This is located behind 29 Francis Street. The structure was designed to control the outflow rate and velocity

Rip Rap and reno mattresses were also installed in the stream (behind Francis Reserve) to reduce flow velocities.  

26 Wellpark Ave Emergency pipe renewal

The main driver for this project was to replace a pipe in poor condition that ran from Francis Reserve to Wellpark Reserve, passing under a dwelling at 28A. The pipe size was increased from 900 mm to 1500 mm in diameter to align with the upgrades completed in the Stanmore to Fife projects, which are located upstream of Wellpark. As well as this a restriction plate was installed in the Francis Reserve pipe as a flow reduction device, to manage capacity until the downstream network is upsized.