Question Time

SA Water Infrastructure

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:19): My questions are to the Minister for Water and the River Murray. Will the minister guarantee that none of the residents impacted by the water main bursts in Paradise and Campbelltown earlier this week will be out of pocket as a result? Will the minister commission an independent audit of the total cost of the water main bursts at Paradise and Campbelltown including the cost to SA Water, insurance companies—

The Hon. G.E. Gago interjecting:

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —residents, the local council and state emergency services?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Will the minister commission an independent report—

The Hon. G.E. Gago interjecting:

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —into whether the bursts were due to any negligence—

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Point of order.

The PRESIDENT: I get the drift. The honourable member has the floor. He is asking a question. At least keep quiet and allow him to ask his question in silence. The Hon. Mr Wade.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Will the minister commission an independent report into whether the bursts were due to any negligence on the part of SA Water or any of its contractors? How many previous investigations has SA Water conducted into itself or any of its contractors that found negligence on the part of SA Water or its contractors?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:20): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions because it allows me to put on the record some responses to outright inaccuracies that the opposition have been pedalling in the media for a couple of days.

On 7 March, four bursts occurred on 450 millimetre cast-iron water mains in the north-eastern suburbs with two in Campbelltown, one in Paradise and one in Newton, I am advised. With our mains water network stretching over 26,000 kilometres, having bursts, of course, is unavoidable, but we can minimise the impact of these incidents. I should say at the outset that we as a government understand that these incidents, when they do happen, are very stressful for those people who are impacted, for those homes that are impacted, the lives that have been inconvenienced and the property that they have lost. I am advised that, in total, about 40 properties have been affected. That is the latest information I have to date.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Forty.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Forty have been affected, with six having experienced internal flooding, all of which were located at Willow Drive, is my advice. I am also advised that there was possible internal flooding at a further property, but that is yet to be confirmed. I am advised that two vehicles, also located on Willow Drive, were also damaged by the water that was cascading down the street.

Our immediate focus, of course, is on assisting affected property owners with their immediate needs and ensuring repairs to the network are completed as a matter of priority. This is a matter of public safety. Five Allwater crews were dispatched to the bursts, I am advised, with four remaining onsite to carry out repairs. Allwater, which is contracted by SA Water to maintain its metropolitan network, had staff onsite all last night to offer temporary accommodation to affected customers. Residents were able to arrange temporary accommodation last night, except for residents of one property who were offered temporary accommodation by Allwater/SA Water.

I am advised that cleaners arrived on site at approximately 7pm on 7 March to commence clean-up of the affected properties. SA Water's customer liaison has been doorknocking the area as of yesterday making contact with customers to ensure that they are being provided with information and assistance as they require it. I am advised also that no direct interruption of water supply occurred in the affected areas immediately after the breaks. SA Water is committed to working with customers and insurance companies on a case-by-case basis to ensure that temporary accommodation meets the needs of each individual family should they require it; however, a number of the customers concerned have been staying with family.

In addition, as I said, cleaners have been organised to clean up the affected properties. Mr President, as you know, I visited the area to inspect the site and meet with some affected property owners, and they have indicated that the state government and SA Water are working with them and their insurers to ensure that they are provided with all of the best possible assistance that we can manage for them. Two of the residents told me that they were very happy with the service that they were provided with by their insurance company and the assessors were onsite at the time. The other property owner I spoke to who was not happy was very pleased to tell me that, in fact, after my visit the insurance assessors turned up to help them.

SA Water's customer liaison team will continue to work with customers, of course, and their insurers to ensure repairs are progressed as quickly as possible and temporary accommodation was offered, as I said, if they require it. I have asked SA Water for a full investigation of the cause of the burst mains and I expect that will be undertaken in coming days. Of course, it is a very complex area with complex engineering to be grappled with.

We appreciate that failures in the water mains can be very trying for people, but in reality we need to also accept that South Australia's water main failure rates are below the ESCOSA standard, that is the standard set by the independent regulator. They also compare favourably with interstate counterparts and, despite the sensationalised claims from some of those opposite, have been relatively stable over the last 10 and 15 years. When advised over a 10-year period, failures averaged 3,952 per year, and over a 15-year period averaged 4,063 per year.

For December 2015, there were 140 failures. This was on par with a 25-year average of 139 failures for the month of December, I am advised. For January 2016, there were 146 failures; this is down on the 25-year average of 179 failures for the month of January. Between 2011-12 and 2014-15, I am advised that SA Water spent an average of $51.4 million a year on direct routine maintenance and repairs, in addition to an average investment of over $300 million a year on the renewal and the upgrade of its pipe networks, treatment plants, water storages and other related infrastructure.

The failure rates of water mains of interstate providers are germane in this situation. It does go to show how well SA Water operates to minimise the breaks and failures of the system. The National Performance Report compares the failure rate of water mains of utilities between comparative interstate providers, that is those with a customer base of over 100,000 customers. My advice is that for 2013-14, South Australia statewide had a failure rate of 11.5 failures per 100 kilometres of pipe per year.

In comparison in other states, Western Australia experienced 17.3 failures per 100 kilometres of pipe per year. Victoria experienced 32.2 failures per 100 kilometres per year and Sydney Water experienced 30 failures. Sydney Water alone experienced 30 failures per 100 kilometres per year—compare that to 11.5 for South Australia. In terms of actual numbers of failures, for South Australia this was 3,091 statewide. Comparatively, failures in Western Australia were 5,858. In Victoria the failures were 15,340 statewide, and Sydney Water alone experienced 6,442 failures in its pipe network system.

Again, I remind honourable members that in South Australia there were only 3,091 statewide. I just want to apprise the house of those facts because there are people out there in the media going onto the wireless and making outstanding claims that don't stand up to a scintilla of investigation, even the tiniest amount of research. The published figures at a national level will show that SA Water is managing our system exceptionally well. Our investment is balanced with cost to consumers.

Honourable members out there who are saying these things on radioland need to apprise those listeners who are listening to them that what they are proposing will cost them more; it will actually cost them more on their SA Water bill. That's what those people are doing. The Hon. Mr Brokenshire and the member for Unley in another place coming up with these grand schemes that they think will fix the system will actually cost the consumers and SA Water's business more money. They are not interested in reducing the cost of living pressures. They are just interested in making political points, grandstanding and charging SA customers more. We will not stand for that.