Old Barrenjoey Road, Avalon Beach

Renewing old water mains

We aim to prevent ongoing leaks and breaks in our pipes in this area. Our crew is upgrading old water pipes, valves and hydrants.


About this project

This project involves upgrading a 500-metre section of the water main on Old Barrenjoey Road in Avalon Beach.

We worked between March and November 2025, before pausing over summer to avoid impacting the peak business trade period and to provide respite to our neighbours.. In 2026, from mid-March, we will:

  • conduct routine quality checks
  • finish installing the water main at the Avalon Parade intersection
  • test and clean the new pipe
  • connect the pipe to the system
  • transfer property and fire services to the new pipe
  • decommission the old main.

Most of our work will be done at the Avalon Parade intersection. Later in the year, we’ll also do night work at the Old Barrenjoey Road and The Crescent intersections. 

Our work will be done at night to reduce the impact on daytime traffic flows and when water use is low. Our night work hours are:

  • Monday nights to Friday mornings 8 pm to 5 am
  • no work on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights.

We may have traffic control, deliveries and the movement of materials during the day from time to time. We won’t work on Sundays or public holidays. 

Benefits

Our work will ensure we can continue to give you clean and reliable water every day.

Impacts

Your water services may be temporarily interrupted when we connect the new water main and transfer services. Residents and businesses affected by these interruptions will receive a separate letter with more information.

There will be some noise from our equipment and machinery. We will finish our noisiest work such as saw cutting and jack hammering by midnight, however other excavations, backfilling and using a vacuum (sucker) truck may continue until
5 am. We’ll minimise vehicle and machinery movements and avoid unnecessary loud noises.

Traffic changes will be in place during our night work.

Temporary laydown areas

We will use temporary storage areas to support this project. These areas will be fenced off for safety.


Project timeline

October 2022
Business survey.
November 2022
Night work schedule survey.
November 2022
Investigations carried out.
March 2025
Construction started in Section 1.
Early June 2025
Construction started in Section 2.
Late November 2025
Construction pauses.
March 2026
We'll finish installing the new water main at the Avalon Parade intersection. We'll then clean and connect the new pipe, transfer services, and decommission the old pipe.
September 2026
Construction finishes.


Have your say

Community drop-in sessions

We will have drop-in sessions on the first Wednesday of every month between 2pm and 4pm in Dunbar Park. Our team will be there to discuss our work and answer any questions you have.

Next drop-in session

Wednesday, 01 April 2026

2pm–4pm

Dunbar Park

59 Old Barrenjoey Road, Avalon Beach NSW 2107


Project updates

03 March 2026
Restarting work on Old Barrenjoey Road

We’ll start from Monday 16 March by doing some routine quality checks on the new water main at night between The Crescent and Avalon Parade. This may involve some potholing and excavation at times.

We’ll also reestablish our temporary compound in the grassy area opposite 61 Old Barrenjoey Road.

Read more
08 October 2025
An update on our remaining work

Our work has unfortunately been slowed due to challenging ground conditions and significant wet weather. While we’ve made every effort, we won’t be able to finish by late October 2025 as planned. We apologise for the delay and for the ongoing construction disturbance being experienced by residents and businesses.

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29 August 2025
Work near the intersection of Old Barrenjoey Road and Avalon Parade from 3 September 2025

From 3 September, we'll start work to install a section of water main underneath the intersection of Old Barrenjoey Road and Avalon Parade.

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04 August 2025
Section 2 night work starting 7 August 2025

From Thursday 7 August 2025, we'll start work to install the section of water main at the intersection of Barrenjoey Road and Old Barrenjoey Road, in front of the Avalon fire station. This work needs to be done at night to reduce the impact on daytime traffic flows.

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30 May 2025
Section 2 construction starting on Thursday 5 May 2025

Our team will start our tunneling work in 'section 2' to renew the watermain along Old Barrenjoey Road from Thursday 5 June.

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03 March 2025
Construction starting Monday 10 March 2025

Our team will start working to renew the water main along Old Barrenjoey Road from Monday 10 March.

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07 January 2025
Construction is starting soon

We'll soon start renewing a section of the water main along Old Barrenjoey Road in Avalon Beach. 

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14 April 2023
Additional investigations

In December 2022 and January 2023, we did some investigation work to confirm where our pipes and other services are below the ground.

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09 January 2023
Investigations continuing

In December 2022, we did some investigation work to confirm where our pipes and other services are below the ground. We finished most of the work, but we need to return for a few nights next week to finalise our investigations.

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23 November 2022
Start of investigations

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback in our night work schedule survey. We have carefully considered all feedback to finalise our night work schedule. We'll work up to 4 consecutive nights a week, from Monday night to Friday morning.

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05 November 2022
Night work schedule consultation

We'll soon begin renewing a section of the water main along Old Barrenjoey Road, Avalon Beach. We’re also working closely with the Northern Beaches Council to plan this work.

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16 October 2022
Business survey

We're renewing the water main along Old Barrenjoey Road in Avalon. We're talking to impacted businesses on Old Barrenjoey Road to understand your operations and access requirements.

Read more



FAQs

The water main on Old Barrenjoey Road was built in 1949 and has had multiple breaks in the past 5 years, so it needs replacing. It is one of our larger water mains, supplying over 5,000 customers.

We'll use 2 types of construction methods to install the new water main – open trench and tunnelling.

Open trench: We'll install the new pipe in Section 1 using the open trench method. Each night, we'll dig a trench, lay the new water main, backfill the trench and temporarily restore the road. We'll repeat this process as we move from The Crescent to Dunbar Park. The work will be done during our night work hours and take about 22 weeks.

Tunnelling: We've found technical challenges in Section 2, including other buried services, soft ground and a lot of groundwater. We'll use a tunnelling method to install the new water main in this area. This involves digging entry and receival pits at either end, and installing the new water main by tunnelling below ground between the 2 points. The work will be done during our day work hours and should take about 12 to 16 weeks.

Section 1

We'll need to temporarily close part of Old Barrenjoey Road where we're working at night. Our friendly traffic controllers will maintain access for residents and parking on either side of our work area. General traffic will be detoured via connecting streets. At the end of each night shift, we'll restore the road so it can be used as normal during the day.

We'll need up to use up to 8 parking spaces for equipment storage next to our work area. This storage area will move along the road as we progress.

Section 2

Our work area will be very space-constrained during the tunnelling work, so:

  • this section of Old Barrenjoey Road will be one-way (southbound only), with traffic directed around our work area via the car park next to Woolworths
  • on-street parking on this section of Old Barrenjoey Road will be restricted for the duration of the tunnelling work
  • all parking in the council car park next to Woolworths will remain free for use.

We won't be able to pack up this work area at the end of each shift. This means that these traffic changes will be in place 24/7 for the 12 to 16 weeks that we work in this area.

We're working closely with the Northern Beaches Council to plan this work. We'll temporarily restore the road to allow for continued use. When our work is finished, we'll liaise with Council to do the permanent restoration.