The pumps, which are each compared to being the size of a pre-historic megalodon shark, have replaced four non-fish friendly pumps that were past their used-by date at the Churchill East pump station in Hampton Downs.
Project manager Stephen Wilson had been nervously tracking their shipment from the Netherlands to New Zealand after building delays caused by the impacts of COVID-19.
With pirate activity occurring in the area, the pumps made it through the Suez Canal and across the Red Sea mere days before ship operators were forced to re-route, taking the lengthy detour of 3,500 nautical miles (6,500kms) around the Cape of Good Hope.
Despite a somewhat dramatic start to the project, the twin pumps arrived safely and were successfully installed on time and under budget.
And they are already impressing the Waikato Council team with their performance.
“Now, just one pump can keep on top of water levels by operating for an hour every six hours or so, on low speed,” said Wilson.
Each pump measures 18m in length and 3m in diameter and can pump a maximum flow of 2.25 cubic metres per second. That is the equivalent of pumping enough water to fill more than three Olympic-sized swimming pools in one hour.
The works to install the pumps were no small feat, either. As part of the upgrade - which is critical to the protection of productive farmland and enables safe passage of native fish - a coffer dam was created around the existing pump station. Six temporary pumps had to be installed to manage wet weather until the new pumps were operational, and they were immediately put to work.
Waikato Regional Council received $4.48 million from the Climate Resilience COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, which is administered by Kānoa - Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit, for the fish-friendly upgrades of the pump stations in the Aka Aka and Churchill East drainage areas and to scope out three other sites.
Check out other works happening in the Waikato region with the help of grants from Kānoa.
