Originally installed 140 years ago, the wheel has been given a new lease of life by the Phoenix Mill Restoration Trust, which was established several years ago by former North Otago resident Richard Pringle.
Work to restore the 10m-diameter wheel at its original Old Mill Rd site, being carried out by volunteers, started in early June 2017.
A year later, the wheel itself has been restored and a 4m-deep pit, into which the wheel will be lowered, has been constructed. The pit features some of the original stonework and has been lined with timber and reinforced with steel.
A retaining wall was also constructed to divert water run-off and debris from a nearby hill away from the pit.
Mr Kircher, a Phoenix Mill Restoration Trust trustee, said other than initial landscaping work which would be carried out when contractors became available, the wheel was ready to be hoisted into place.
However, soft ground in the area meant that would not be possible for some time.
''The ground's too soft and we can't do a heck of a lot with getting the big, heavy lifting crane in until the ground has dried out. We're expecting that means instead of being able to lift the wheel by now, it's going to be later in the year, probably more in that late spring period.''
Once that happened, final landscaping work - including a car parking area, plantings and a viewing area - would take place.
The cost of the project is about $100,000.
The trust secured an $80,000 grant to fund it, and the Waitaki District Council committed $10,000 in September 2015 and another $10,000 as part of its 2017-18 annual plan.
The water wheel, listed as Category 2 with Heritage New Zealand, was installed at the site of the Phoenix Flour Mill in 1878 and used to power the mill before the mill building was removed in 1905.
- By Daniel Birchfield
