25 September 2006

Barren Box wins Sydney engineering excellence award

Murrumbidgee Irrigation along with the project consultants URS Australia Pty Ltd have taken out the prestigious Environment and Heritage Award for the Barren Box Storage and Wetland redevelopment project at the Sydney 06 Engineering Excellence Awards, held in Sydney last Friday night.

In accepting the award Dick Thompson, Chairman of Murrumbidgee Irrigation told the gathering of over 600 people that “Barren Box is a prime example of rural innovation in challenging times. The project has been good for the environment and good for the farmers. Investing in water savings means irrigators get to keep their productive water and the environment is protected and improved for future generations.”

The Environment and Heritage Award was a strongly contested category with six finalists vying for the honour of being the Sydney winner. The Award recognises projects that deliver direct positive benefits to the environment or conservation, with ecological sustainability being an integral part of this category. Competitors included the large city projects of the North Head recycled water plant and Sydney Water's rehabilitation of the Coogee diversion sewer.

The Barren Box project was also Runner Up in the Engineering for Regional Communities Award, only being surpassed by the visually inspiring Sea Cliff Bridge which forms part of Lawrence Hargrave Drive on Sydney 's south coast.

Dick Thompson told the engineering audience that “the Barren Box project was just the first of many innovative water savings projects that Murrumbidgee Irrigation had in the pipeline. Tough climatic times call for smart thinking to ensure our ongoing sustainability as a healthy and productive rural community.”

The Barren Box project will progress to the National Engineering Awards to be held in Canberra later this year.