SA Water Infrastructure

In reply to the Hon. S.G. WADE (9 March 2016).

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change): The Minister for Water and the River Murray has received this advice:

1. SA Water have made a commitment to those residents affected by the recent water mains burst in Paradise to reimburse costs associated with damage to property caused by the water main burst.

2. On March 18 2016 I announced publicly that the cause of the mains failures has been investigated internally by SA Water and has concluded that an operational issue at Hope Valley water treatment plant caused a pressure surge in the water main and was the likely cause of the mains failures.

The Essential Service Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA) and the Office of the Technical Regulator are also performing independent reviews of the recent water mains failures in Paradise.

3. The metropolitan water network has a failure rate target of 21 failures/100 km/year. For:

2014-15 the metro failure rate was 19.6 failures/100 km/year

2015-16 the metro failure rate currently is 19.8 failures/100 km/year.