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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-11-13 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Bordertown New Water Tank Arrangement Project

Ms SAVVAS (Newland) (11:39): I move:

That the 159th report of the committee, entitled Bordertown New Water Tank Arrangement Project, be noted.

In preparation for projected growth in Bordertown and its surrounds, SA Water (the agency) will install storage tanks at Tatiara District Council's new industrial state development. Bordertown has a population of approximately 3,000 people and is located on the Dukes Highway 275 kilometres south-east of Adelaide. The town sources its drinking water from six bores located 10 kilometres to its west in the Cannawigara.

Currently, water is pumped from bores to the elevated tank within the Bordertown township via a water main that follows Cannawigara Road. In addition to the industrial precinct development in the town's west, Bordertown also expects the construction of an additional 200 residential dwellings in the coming years; good news for Bordertown. The council anticipates significant growth from these developments and water infrastructure upgrades are urgently required.

The proposed works will support the growing water demand while also enhancing the reliability and security of its supply system, which currently lacks sufficient capacity to support future development. SA Water has determined that the addition of nine megalitres of water storage will support the council's 10-year growth projections and will ensure reliable service during peak demand. In addition to the new water tanks, the proposed works will construct the associated pipework and pump station, as well as a new transfer main. The project will also include integration works, including tie-in infrastructure to the existing elevated tank, as well as communications and surge protection.

Construction is anticipated to commence in the third quarter of next year, with the expectation to be online in the third quarter of 2027 and the remaining infrastructure delivered in early 2028. The project is expected to cost $55.9 million and the operational budget is expected to increase by a projected cost of $1.8 million over a 10-year horizon. The operating and capital costs of the Bordertown New Tank Arrangement Project are funded through the 2024 regulatory determination and were approved by ESCOSA. The project will therefore have no impact on SA Water's overall borrowing or contributions to government.

Land purchase for the site has already been agreed between SA Water and Tatiara District Council. SA Water uses procurement frameworks that enable the sequential award of works to suppliers, incentivising suppliers to perform well to secure the continuity of work. The agency states that this model delivers significant efficiency benefits through collaboration, innovation, consistency, planning and programming.

In June last year, the agency extended its major framework partner agreements and the Bordertown New Tank Arrangement Project has been included in the agency's Water Solutions Major Framework Program. The procurement process has been conducted in accordance with SA Water's policies and procedures and conforms to all applicable Treasury and government policies. SA Water engineering is responsible for the analysis and initial concept design, and a design and construct model has been selected to deliver the project. The agency states that a major framework partner will submit a proposal to complete the project.

As the project cost is greater than $55 million, assignment of the project to the major framework partner will be reviewed and discussed with the procurement portfolio manager and other key stakeholders prior to assignment. Award for the design and construct package will be in accordance with SA Water's delegation of financial and procurement authority and relevant government policies.

The project is being managed in accordance with SA Water's corporate project management methodology by a project manager from the agency's Capital Planning and Delivery Group. The project manager is responsible for project development and delivery, including seeking approvals and managing works. SA Water uses a business management policy and framework to identify and manage project risks. Key risks include:

(a) timing and completion of the commissioning works across multiple sites may not meet the agency's quality requirements or public expectation, for which SA Water is working closely with the major framework partner to develop a commissioning strategy; and

(b) delays or shortages in procuring materials, for which the project team is identifying lead time, securing suppliers and considering project milestones.

Design and construction risks will continue to be evaluated during the detailed design process via safety, design and project constructability workshops. SA Water's corporate-wide policies reinforce the commitment to operating sustainably to support viability now and into the future, and the selected contractor will be encouraged to develop processes that consider short and long-term local and global environmental, social and economic considerations. As mentioned in previous submissions, initiatives include: efficient use of resources, preference of local expertise and contractors where possible, reduction of carbon emissions, flexible processes and products, and recycling and re-use.

An environmental control plan has been prepared to ensure the project is delivered in compliance with the relevant legislative frameworks, and the contractor will be required to establish a construction environmental management plan outlining general environmental controls and mitigation. A site environmental management plan will also be developed to address site-specific environmental conditions, and these plans will be monitored by regular site inspections and audits.

Assessments have indicated a medium risk of encountering or impacting Aboriginal heritage, and the construction contractor will be required to comply with SA Water's standard operating procedure for the discovery of Aboriginal heritage. Should any Aboriginal heritage be encountered, work is to cease immediately, and an environmental and heritage expertise representative should be contacted. Additionally, as per other projects, all site construction employees will attend a site-specific Aboriginal cultural heritage induction. The agency states that native title has been extinguished, both in the subject land parcel and the relevant road reserve. There is no impact on local or state heritage places or items that have been identified.

SA Water is in ongoing consultation with Tatiara District Council and adjacent landowners to manage and minimise construction impacts. Internal stakeholders and partner organisations will be kept informed, and the submission has been circulated amongst relevant government departments which have indicated support.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to this project. Witnesses who appeared include Emma Goldsworthy, as well as Stephanie Harper, Senior Project Manager for SA Water. We also received a letter of support from the member for MacKillop concerning the project in his electorate.

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 recommends the proposed public work.

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (11:46): It gives me great pleasure, and may I say a big thank you to the Public Works Committee and the Chair on this development for Bordertown. Bordertown is one of the towns in my electorate of MacKillop, on the Dukes Highway, not far from the Victorian border, and it has what I would have to say are growing pains. It has a number of issues in regard to the development of the town—population growth, it has a meatworks, Blue Lake Milling, and other types of businesses there, even a hemp business—and it is a real industrial mecca with growing pains around services.

One of those issues was water. It has been expressed that all the new industrial sites taking place are not even being fitted to the mains water due to the fact that there is not enough for the town's growth. The infrastructure being proposed here, and the storage and extra pipework, is absolutely beneficial to the town and it will help, but what it does not do is add any more water in volume from a resource that is already under an immense amount of stress.

The resource is a freshwater basin—and I stand to be corrected but I think it is called Poocher Swamp and basin. This freshwater basin and lens of water, as they might describe it, is very fresh and potable. There is plenty of water around Bordertown but it is not all suitable for potable water for the town due to the salinity levels. If you put another bore elsewhere, for irrigation and industrial use of water, it still does not meet the town's requirements around potable water and the levels of salinity. That is still an issue for Bordertown, as is the fact that this resource is already under stress.

There is talk of extending the Keith pipeline to Bordertown that comes from Tailem Bend. It extracts water from the River Murray, and this has been looked at, and they are talking around $40 million to extend that line, and that might be on the bottom end. There was talk about even doubling that. The other part we are also investigating—and I am not sure about the quantum and how much it would provide—is that the pipeline from Keith does come down the railway line towards Bordertown, probably more than half the way, but I am not sure of the size of the pipe and how much extra water it could provide Bordertown because of the shortage it has.

I have to say thank you very much to the state government for its advocacy, not only on this water development but we also have housing developments and other projects going into Tatiara to try to help build what I call a very strong proactive council, led well by the Mayor Liz Goossens. Sadly, we have seen the stepping down and resignation of CEO Anne Champness, who has been a strong advocate and has spent eight years on the Tatiara council. No doubt, the Tatiara councillors would have been very supportive of this development, which we see the Public Works Committee has talked about here today and has now supported.

This is a great step in the right direction for Bordertown. It does help out with infrastructure and maintaining a reliable supply water to the town—full stop. Whether the resource is already under stress does not matter. Please, can we all just note that Bordertown already has this shortage issue, with the basin that it is sucking out of under an immense amount of stress. The other thing that is a bit ironic is that Bordertown does not even have enough electricity to supply its town. It has a diesel generator because the powerlines are too small or they are too old. That is the sort of thing that Bordertown has suffered, which is very much consistent with even the water. So we not only have power issues but we also have water issues.

One of the things that has been lost, and maybe cannot be considered that well, is renewable energy, some small type of desalination. None of these types of projects have been considered strongly because renewable energy cannot get into the town because of the contract around this diesel generator, which then stops any sort of desalination process that might work with a solar development there to help add to the water and fresh water of this basin that is under stress.

All I can say to the South Australian government is please keep considering Bordertown. It is a really strong, growing business. It is growing well and it just needs infrastructure and upgrades, like we are seeing from the public works. Thank you very much to the Public Works Committee.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:51): I will make a brief contribution with regard to this water tank project at Bordertown. It is an interesting project that has just been outlined by the member for MacKillop, which will increase their storage capacity of groundwater for the town, which is essentially their sole available water resource for the town. It will increase that resource by about 20 times. However, again, it does work on a resource that does not want to be overallocated. Groundwater is one of those strange beasts. You cannot see it and you have to—and you do—trust the water scientists who deal with the studies of groundwater.

It interests me quite a bit. This is a $55 million project, and my understanding is there were some investigations around extending the Keith pipeline, which I believe was somewhere around $45 million or $46 million to extend that pipeline to Bordertown. The interest I have in that pipeline is that where I live, my property in Coomandook, is on an offshoot of that main pipeline. We have offshoot pipes running down the Dukes Highway and Parkin Hall Road at the back of my property. That is our total water supply because our groundwater is not potable.

We have been told that if an extension was put on there would be enough requirements for Bordertown. I do not know whether that accounts for any growth above the already strained industrial and town needs, because if it does not a pipeline would need to be built for over 160 kilometres from Tailem Bend and a whole new pipe put in, which would be a major construction that has not happened since the Keith pipeline was put in, in the late sixties, I believe, which was visionary at the time, to make sure that those of us from Tailem Bend to Keith, and just beyond Keith, could have potable water not just for our towns and households but for our stock, which are totally dependent on that water.

Yes, there are some people who have put in bores to use some saline water and blend it. That comes with a lot of expense and your own private desalination plant. It certainly has been done in places where people have a lot of stock, especially a lot of cattle that can get very, very thirsty, especially on a hot day, just to reduce the cost.

My inquiry would be to SA Water as to what the plans are into the future, acknowledging this puts a lot more water into storage for Bordertown but does not increase the volume available in total from those bores around the Cannawigara area. Whatever investigations are going to be put in place in the future for extending that water supply, I believe the only real way to do it is to extend the Keith pipeline. If that does not have enough capacity, all the members in the area will need to know, especially those of us who rely on that vital River Murray water just to survive, quite frankly.

We would like to know the outcomes of those investigations. I certainly note that this tank will absolutely increase the availability of just-in-time water by 20 times, which will be a huge boost. It is interesting that it comes in at a very close number to what we have been told in the past would be the extension of the Keith pipeline.

Motion carried.

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