OVERLAND Corner’s century-old Lock 3 has reopened access to boats, kayaks and keen river navigators on the Murray River, following the completion of important maintenance by SA Water.
The refurbishments, which started in late April, included replacing all 12 water control valves – used to raise and lower water levels in the lock chamber – along with re-sealing the four 18-tonne hydraulic gates, concreting repairs to the lock floor and other minor works at the site.
This also required draining the lock chamber’s 8-million-litre water capacity to enable safe access to the base of the 120m-long structure, with vessels unable to use the lock throughout the duration of the work.
The refurbishments are estimated to help speed-up the lockage process for boats by 50 percent, with it now taking around 15 minutes to pass-through the site, compared to the previous 30-minute timeframe.
SA Water’s senior manager of River Murray operations Garry Fyfe said the site is now back open for normal operations.
“Our crews have been busy over the past four months completing these upgrades as quickly and safely as possible, and it’s exciting to see this important asset back open for the community to use on their travels up and down the mighty Murray,” Mr Fyfe said.
“The scope of the works was complex, with each of the four large hydraulic gates individually removed and safely relocated on the lock’s adjacent laydown area, to enable our crews to assess each gate and make any minor repairs as needed.
“With everything back in place and the two temporary cofferdams – used to prevent water flowing into the site – removed from either side of the lock chamber, we commenced a controlled refill of water over several days, before returning the site to its normal operations.
“We’d like to thank the community for their understanding over the past several months while we undertook these important works, and ensuring the lock’s continued operation into the future.”
For more information on SA Water’s network of locks and weirs, visit the website (www.sawater.com.au).