The Hinze Dam was initially completed in 1976 and upgraded in 1989 to a storage capacity of 161,000 million litres. Now, the dam’s storage capacity is being increased to more than 309,700 million litres to ensure an adequate water supply to the Gold Coast for the next 50 years.The increased storage capacity will be achieved by raising the height of the Hinze Dam embankment by 15m to 108.5m. To ensure the stability and water tightness of the structure, a two-phase cut-off wall 840mm thick and up to 50m deep is being installed in the dam structure. This contract is being carried out by Bauer Foundations Australia.The construction of the cut-off wall is a huge technical challenge. “To create the space for the cut-off wall, a large amount of material has to be excavated, primarily rock,” Bauer Foundations Australia managing director Gerhard Zylowski said. “Half of this material consists of extremely hard rock.”Bauer said the importance attached to the project was shown by the time schedule for the site establishment and the bonus payment offered by the client for complying with it. “We did meet this deadline,” Zylowski said.Construction works for the cut-off wall have been underway since the end of May 2008. Plant onsite include a Bauer BC 40 diaphragm wall cutter, a rope-operated grab, a BE 500 desanding plant couple with a BS 50 desilter unit, a decanter and a bentonite mixing unit with a capacity of 1000 cubic metres.
