Allan Adams was 10 years old when the Lawson Syphons at Deniliquin were opened in April 1955.
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His father Les Adams was friends with Joe Lawson, after whom the syphons were named.
And Allan still has some photos — black and white of course — of the auspicious occasion he was so proud to have been involved in.
Almost 64 years later, Mr Adams took advantage of a special program to see the syphons again after an extensive and long overdue upgrade.
He made the trip from Wakool specifically to take part in the Deniliquin Business Chamber’s Business After Hours initiative last Wednesday, held in conjunction with Murray Irrigation Limited.
Murray Irrigation construction manager Bob Adams gave 22 people a tour of the upgrades, and a rare close-up look at the Edward Escape which releases water into the Edward River flowing through Deniliquin and further downstream.
He explained the barrel system, which has the capacity to deliver 2440 megalitres of water per day, and the improvements to the concrete channels and on the mechanical gates that were undertaken as part of round three of the Private Irrigation Infrastructure Operators Program (PIIOP).
‘‘Works started in May 2018 and were completed by the end of that July,’’ Mr Adams said.
‘‘The Lawson Syphons was one of 17 construction programs in our winter program under PIIOP round three, which had a total cost of $49.3 million.’’
As a result of the upgrades, the site can now offer full remote operations and water tight efficiency, and the life of the infrastructure has been extended by 25 years or more.
Mr Adams said while some patching was required to the concrete in the structure, including the removal of some asbestos material in joins, he said all the concrete is original.
He said himself and other staff involved in construction of the upgrades found it ‘‘incredible’’ to speak with Allan about the original opening, and to see the photos.
Located 10km east of Deniliquin, the Lawson Syphons is a 700-metre long river management asset which diverts the Mulwala Canal under the Edward River and helps deliver water to agricultural areas south of Deniliquin.
Construction of the Lawson Syphons was completed in 1955 and took 16 years to build.
Work started in 1939 but was halted only weeks later following the outbreak of World War II. When work resumed in 1945, project managers were faced with repeated flooding of the Edward River and labour shortages.
These days, the critical asset supplies water to hundreds of landholders over 140,000 hectares, whose agricultural and horticultural enterprises support our region’s economy.
An upgrade of the Lawson Syphons was instigated in 2017 when the design and construction expertise of 1930s engineering came under the scrutiny of 21st century technology during an intensive inspection.
Last year’s extensive repair works and critical upgrades included concrete remediation works and replacing wheel-operated regulating gates with automated, telemetry-enabled hardware that is among the most advanced available.
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