Marsden Street fish lock repair

This project will investigate and repair faults in the wiring of Marsden Street Weir fish lock on the Parramatta River in the Parramatta CBD. The electrical wiring allows for local and remote control of hydraulic gates, communicating with them to open or close as required. The project will also upgrade the control panel from an onsite operation to a cloud based platform allowing for shut down and restarting from remote locations during flood conditions.

Marsden Street Weir and fish lock sit between Charles Street Weir / Wharf at the tidal limit downstream, and Ross Street / Kiosk Weir upstream. In 2007 the City of Parramatta installed vertical slot fishways at Charles Street Wharf and Ross Street Weirs, and Marsden Street fish lock was constructed in 2009, linking a 2 km stretch of Parramatta River from the tidal limit up to Parramatta Weir (located adjacent Parramatta Park).

Flooding impacts caused the Marsden Street fish lock to break down and it required recommissioning between 2022 and 2024. During this time two of the three hydraulic gates were completely rebuilt, however it became evident that electrical wiring was also damaged and needed replacing and telemetry needed upgrading from the old 2G network.
Currently the fish lock operates in “manual mode”, requiring an operator to manually trigger the gate opening and closing sequence, but this cannot be switched on to operate as required.

Rewiring the system, upgrading the controls and bringing them up to speed with technological advances since they were installed, will ensure the fish lock operates automatically, opening and closing at regular intervals to provide fish passage past Marsden Street Weir. It will also have the added ability to help manage water levels in the Marsden Street Weir pool, so helping manage flooding impacts to the Parramatta CBD.