Public Works Committee: Angle Vale Wastewater Augmentation Charge Works

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:07): I move:

That the 129^th report of the Public Works Committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled 'Angle Vale wastewater network augmentation charge works' be noted.

SA Water is proposing to install the new wastewater network to service the growth in allotments in the Angle Vale area. Residential development at Angle Vale is currently expanding rapidly, with a potential increase in connections to SA Water's network forecast to rise from the current 478 to 5,063 allotments over the next 30 years. Development in the area has already exceeded expected growth rates and, in addition, there is a new 1,600-student school under construction, planned for completion in early 2022.

In response to the increased pace of development, SA Water seeks to accelerate the delivery of the wastewater network to service the area. The key aim of the works is to provide a reliable, safe and maintainable connection of the Angle Vale wastewater network to the Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant. The preferred option for the new wastewater network includes two pumping stations, 1.2 kilometres of gravity main and 3.1 kilometres of rising mains.

The project will deliver new infrastructure—pipework and pumps—to ensure reliable and safe disposal of wastewater from the Angle Vale area through the Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant by the end of this year. This will replace the existing tankering system which is utilised in the early stages of developments when there is insufficient wastewater produced to effectively utilise a sewer system connected to a wastewater treatment plant.

The South Australian Water Corporation Board approved the release of capital expenditure of $12.7 million to be funded through SA Water's Regulatory Determination 2020-24, Our Plan 2020-24, to compete this project. Project works are expected to have commenced with practical completion expected in October of this year.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to this project and received assurances that the appropriate consultation had been undertaken. The committee is satisfied that the proposal has been subject to the appropriate agency consultation and does meet the criteria for the examination of projects, as described in the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991. Based on the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it supports the proposed scope of public works that I have outlined.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:10): I rise to speak to the 129^th report of the Public Works Committee, entitled 'Angle Vale wastewater network augmentation charge works'. I wish to note the historic association that my family had with Angle Vale after they left Plympton, where my original forebears William and Mary Pederick had a farm in 1840. You could have farms then, obviously, in Plympton. They went out to Gawler River, where their son Robert Adams had land. The land on which the Gawler River church sits was land donated by the Pederick family. Some people say it was the stoniest piece of the property, and that is why it was donated, but it was put to good use and God's work.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: Yes. There are some very historic names buried there. My original forebears lie in the cemetery next to a lot of the Dawkins family, the Reddens and a whole range of other pioneers of this state. From Gawler River my family moved to Angle Vale. Certainly, back in the day the properties were only about 180-acre lots. You obviously had two together, or something like that, and you might have 368-acre lots. So between my grandfather Leonard and my father, Robert, they farmed several properties around the Angle Vale area. Some of that land was next to the Northern Expressway, where the munitions dumps were compulsorily acquired in 1939, off our land. In 1950, 11 years later, some of that land was compulsorily acquired as part of the Edinburgh airbase.

The reason I am giving that brief overview of my family history in the area is that my father, who was born in 1920, could remember the land between Gepps Cross and Gawler as having only farms and farmhouses on it. He could remember land opening up at Salisbury and Elizabeth over that time. In later years, we have seen the expansion around Angle Vale, Virginia, Two Wells and associated towns around there and, obviously, Gawler as well, which has become a major centre and was the business centre for them back in the day.

Angle Vale is growing exponentially. You can see developments going ahead all the time, so expansion of any works is necessary where you see urban infill from what was, well back in the day, very much an agricultural area. This project, with regard to augmenting the wastewater network, is absolutely vital. It is a beautiful part of the world, but a very much changed landscape from when my forebears first lived there. My father grew up on Heaslip Road, two miles from the Angle Vale school. The school is still on the same site.

He and his family would ride into school on one horse, get off the horse, tap it on the butt, the horse would find its way home, and they would walk home in the afternoon. As I indicated, things have moved on since the late twenties or early thirties of the last century, so these works are vital. I commend any of these works that help make communities function, and they are absolutely necessary in light of giving development the opportunity to increase.

Some people would say that it is a sad fact of life, but it is a fact of life with a burgeoning population that people have to have somewhere to live, and a spot like Angle Vale is where people can do that with the expanded urban area. I certainly support this project, and I wanted to note the historic association my family have had with this area. It has sharply changed since my father was a lad growing up through the Depression and further on. I commend these works and wish this motion speedy passage through the house.

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:16): I appreciate very much the member for Hammond's contribution. I also take this opportunity to thank members of the committee, who have worked diligently not just in relation to this report but also in relation to many matters concerning public works right across the state since the commencement of this parliament.

Motion carried.