|
Ceduna water disasters Member for Flinders Liz Penfold said problems being experienced in Ceduna with the SA Water supply would shame a Third World country. “Pipe breakages and lengthy outages have produced health risks, school closures, threatened bankruptcy of business, and damaged roads,” she said. Mrs Penfold said Ceduna had 11 major stoppages of water supply over five days during the recent burst of hot weather. She said the reason for the severe pipe bursts was believed to be fluctuations in pressure coupled with the uneven expansion of pipes when exceptionally hot water flows through cold pipes. Mrs Penfold said the Ceduna Hospital has been without water for some hours, while Crossways Lutheran School sent children home. A motel proprietor was forced to give his guests buckets of water with which to flush toilets, and to offer the use of his private shower and toilet facilities at his home which was on rain water. Telling prospective guests that they would be unable to have a shower was the quickest way he had seen of driving them – and business - away. Ceduna Council is considering billing SA Water for damage to roads caused by underground pipes bursting as the damage is so frequent and extensive. Mrs Penfold said that water is pumped more than 450 kilometres in large above-ground pipes about 30 centimetres in diameter from Port Lincoln to Ceduna and in summer the water is extremely hot on arrival. “The hot water goes directly from the mains into underground pipes that are cool because the surrounding ground temperature is low. The uneven expansion of the pipes coupled with fluctuations in pressure causes holes the size of footballs to be blown out of the pipes,” she said. Mrs Penfold said it was ironic that water restrictions have probably added to the problem because of a lack of water flow during the day. The first wave of breaks occurs around 6 pm coinciding with people returning home from work, and the second and more damaging breaks occur around midnight to 3 am after everyone has gone to bed. “Thousands of dollars of taxpayers money is being spent in bringing workers from all over Eyre Peninsula to effect repairs. “Workers have worked through the night on more than one occasion to repair breaks and to restore supply however as soon as one break is fixed another occurs,” she said. Mrs Penfold said towns which had holding tanks for the mains water to flow into prior to it being distributed to homes and businesses did not have the problem with breakages that Ceduna has. It has been suggested that holding tanks be placed near the Ceduna airport for the mains water to flow into thus allowing it to cool down prior to entering the cool underground pipes. This would stop the pressure fluctuations. Another suggestion to alleviate the problem is to allow the watering of ovals and council lawns starting in the late afternoon and continuing throughout the night after hot days. The water used would be considerably less than what is wasted through pipe breakages. Mrs Penfold has asked the Minister for Infrastructure Jay Weatherill to consider the issue as a matter of urgency and to immediately begin processes to overcome the problems. ENDS |
|
Back to Media Releases |
