Oxford Street and Wallis Street water main upgrade

We need to replace the water mains on Wallis and Oxford Streets in Paddington.

These pipes are over 100 years old and need to be replaced. The water main on Wallis Street was laid in 1900, and on Oxford Street in 1985.

We're replacing the old pipes using the slip lining method

We will use the slip lining method to replace the old water main in Oxford and Wallis Street. This involves digging three pits, along the path of the old pipes, which will be used to insert the new pipe into the existing water main. Slip lining not only allows us to complete the job quickly but the impact of our work is significantly reduced because we do not need to dig a trench along the entire length of the water main we're replacing.

Work duration

We expect construction to take around six months and be completed in early December 2023 subject to weather.

Wallis Street

We expect to start work from 22 May 2023 on Wallis Street. Most of our work on Wallis Street will be done in the day from 7 am - 6 pm, however, we will need to do some night work which will be done from 9 pm - 5 am, and we will let impacted residents know before we start night work.

Oxford Street

Unfortunately, we need to do our work on Oxford Street at night as it is a major arterial road. We know this isn’t ideal, but we’ll work with you to minimise disruptions.

We plan to start working on Oxford Street in late June. We will be working in the eastern-bound traffic lanes on the left lane of the road.

Noise

When digging in the roadway, you may experience a few days of loud work and vibration. To minimise the impact of this work, we have committed to:

• Night work - No high noise activities after midnight.
• Night work - Only working 4 shifts from Monday evening to Friday morning to provide respite from the construction work.

Wherever possible we will use noise blankets around our work sites to help reduce noise.

Work compounds

Centennial Park

We will be using Sydney Water land in Centennial Park as one of our off-site storage locations. This site will be used by our crews throughout the day and night. We will do our best to keep noise to a minimum, particularly at night. To help us manage the impact on residents we will conduct noise monitoring at the site.

Oxford Street Median Strip

We will use part of the median strip on Oxford Street to store and weld the plastic pipes being used to replace the old pipe.

Your water supply

Water interruptions will be required in the early stage of the project and again when we have finished installing the new pipes.

These interruptions will be planned and not everyone will be impacted.

If you are a residential customer and your water supply will be interrupted, we will let you know the date and time at least two days in advance.

For businesses impacted by water interruptions, we will let you know at least seven days in advance.