Southern Australia Government-owned SA Water announced that the new 36km long drinking water pipeline in Orroroo is now operational.

SA Water

Image: SA Water operates new pipeline in Orroroo, Australia. Photo: Courtesy of LoggaWiggler/Pixabay.

SA Water said that the water pipeline is expected to improve the drinking water quality of the township through the supply of water produced at the Morgan Water Treatment Plant.

SA Water asset operations and delivery general manager Mark Gobbie claimed that customers will now be able to notice a clear difference in the water’s taste and quality in the coming days.

Gobbie said: “Water is currently flowing through the pipe network and into our water storage tank just outside Orroroo, which will take a few days to reach our customers in the area while the switch over to treated River Murray supply is complete.”

“We hope Orroroo residents enjoy having a better tasting water supply and that it makes a real difference to daily life.”

The state government-owned company stated that the new pipeline’s construction included new pipes installed within road verges following Petersburg Road, RM Williams Way, Bencic Road and Minburra Road, including a further 17km of water main replacement between Peterborough and Yongala.

Previously, water supply for the township was sourced from groundwater from the Walloway Basin.  Although the water was technically classified as drinkable under Australian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines, yet it did not meet certain taste qualities due to natural salinity occurring across several of the country’s groundwater systems.

Gobbie continued saying: “The new supply is treated with chloramine, which is a common disinfection method used to destroy pathogens that can arise in untreated water and ensures the water we supply to over 220,000 customers across the state is clean and safe to drink.”

“Some residents may notice slight temporary water discolouration when their supply, but this is common when we change over a water supply and it remains perfectly safe to drink.”

Last month, the company selected Enerven to deploy about 154MW of new solar PV generation and 34MWh of energy storage across 70 of its sites in the next 18 months.

SA Water will be investing A$304m ($216m) and it is expected to create nearly 250 jobs during the construction period. The project will help the water company in reducing its carbon footprint to power its operations and in achieving zero net electricity costs from 2020. The investment will see the deployment of more than 500,000 solar panels across its sites.