The next stage of work on the Ross Creek Reservoir is unlikely to go ahead until next year.
Construction of a buttress on the reservoir's embankment was originally expected to start this month, but there had been a series of ''general technical delays'', including in completing reviews of information and a revisit of the information required for the consent process, Dunedin City Council water and waste service capital programme analyst Tom Dyer said.
It was now expected a consent application would be lodged with the Otago Regional Council later this year, and tenders for the construction work would be sought either late this year, or early next year.
Once started, the work was expected to take about a year. It would include extending the foot of the embankment, allowing
the embankment's gradient to be reduced and the structure to be stabilised.
The $2.1 million project to restore the old dam's earth embankment, which was found in 2010 to have developed large cracks, is part of a refurbishment project that will see the reservoir used as a raw water storage facility for Dunedin, providing backup to the city's supply should Deep Creek and Deep Stream supplies fail.
Bush under the embankment was cleared earlier this year so council consultants could do survey and design work.
A review of the design was to be carried out by a structures specialist, an archaeological authority and a consenting authority, in June, but several issues, including availability, meant work was only now under way, Mr Dyer said.
