In a Nutshell...

Art in the park attracted an estimated 45,000 visitors to North Hagley Park in February. Funded by the Council and presented by Professional Arts Services, the event featured sculptors from three Christchurch sister-cities Songpa-Gu, Kurashiki and Adelaide, and 20 other sculptors. Hundreds of residents bought a $25 block of Oamaru stone each and made their own carvings.

Award for Avoca:

A report on the restoration of the Avoca Valley Stream, a joint Council project, has won a top New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects’ award. Di Lucas and associates’ Warwick Moffatt and Annabel Riley prepared the report for the Council Water Services Unit.

Babies’ books:

Canterbury Public Library celebrated a decade of Books for Babies on 11 April. The project started in 1990 - International Literacy Year - and has delivered almost 50,000 packs of a board book and library enrolment information to newborn babies in Christchurch. "We have led the world when it comes to early literacy," says Bill Nagelkerke.

Dig this!

Ways are being devised to repair sewer pipes without digging up the roads around them. One method, which may start here in July, is injection grouting. It involves the injection of a polyurethane resin mixed with water, into defective joints to seal them. The sealant is pumped into a rubber packer, which is put into the sewer pipe, with a TV camera, and winched to the site of the faulty joint. Another system also involves a type of packer. However, it works by dragging a polyester resin and fibreglass liner on the outside of the packer. A method used mainly for repairing pipes on the hills entails sending a hydraulically propelled steel cone into a pipe and, because it is bigger than the pipe, smashing the pipe. As it does so, it drags a new polyethylene pipe into it.

Energy efficiency:

The Council has won two Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority Energy-Wise awards. One went to energy manager Dr Leonid Itskovich in the energy manager category and another to the Council itself in the public sector category. The authority says it continues to be impressed by the efforts made by organisations and individuals to use energy wisely. New Zealand has 700 Energy-Wise companies that account for most of the country’s industrial energy use.

Trade Wastes Bylaw:

Financial incentives will be included in a new Trade Wastes Bylaw effective from 1 July. The bylaw will regulate the discharge of wastes from Christchurch industries into the sewers. It will encourage waste minimisation and water conservation by a mixture of regulation and financial incentives. The incentives are being offered to improve the quality of processed biosolids and open up ways to use them as a fertiliser and a soil conditioner. The bylaw will also give the Council tighter controls over wastes put into sewers.