Lismore City Council's $8.2 million South Lismore Flood Mitigation Project is officially complete and has already passed the test of two floods.
Lismore City Deputy Mayor Neil Marks and local Nationals Member of the Legislative Council Ben Franklin jointly cut the ribbon on the project today.
"I'm delighted that the flood mitigation project is 'officially' complete – it will make a significant difference in protecting the CBD from floodwaters," Mr Franklin said.
"Thomas George, as the Nationals Member for Lismore for nearly 20 years, was instrumental in securing funding for this project and ensuring the risk of serious floods would reduce the damage to local businesses, homes and communities.
"With the recent natural disaster, the completion of this work could not have come at a better time."
Cr Marks said it was great to open this new project that had been discussed for decades.
"As we saw in the 2017 flood, the levee alone cannot keep floodwaters out of our CBD if we get too much rain," he said
"Since this project was 'unofficially' completed, we have had two floods and the mitigation works has shown it can help protect our city from flood waters.
"I'm also happy to say that due to savings that were realised during construction, we were able to work with the State Government to extend the scope of work to include the upgrade of Caniaba Street which will ensure road access to the newly created industrial lots meet contemporary standards."
The project, which was funded by the NSW Government, involved the removal of 410,000m³ of soil from a 58-hectare area of land owned by Council to reduce flood levels to the north.
Flood modelling suggests the project should reduce peak water levels in the CBD, North Lismore and South Lismore by as much as 100mm in a 1-in-100-year flood event.
The excavated material has been used to fill nearby industrial land within Lismore's floodplain and facilitate the expansion of the South Lismore Industrial Estate.
Council's Director of Infrastructure Services Peter Jeuken said project has already improved Lismore's disaster resilience.
"This project was endorsed by the Lismore Floodplain Management Committee and is part of a range of measures detailed in the Lismore Flood Mitigation Plan to help safeguard the community and increase disaster resilience," he said.
"During the last two floods, you could see water being diverted around the CBD and flowing through channels back into the Wilsons River."
SEE Civil carried out the work which was overseen by NSW Public Works Advisory and Council
During preliminary works Council relocated two major sewer mains, which were 'bedded' (backfilled with material to protect the pipe) using 1500 tonnes of crushed glass from the Lismore Recycling & Recovery Centre.
"This is a great example of reusing a waste material plus there is a significant cost saving to the project from using this bedding material opposed to traditional crushed rock," Mr Jeuken said.
