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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-03-22 Daily Xml
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SA Water Infrastructure

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:15): I have a supplementary question, given that I never get my questions answered. As a result of Mr Ringham admitting liability and negligence, can the minister assure the chamber that all damage and all assets of these residents will be met and fully covered one way or another by SA Water?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:15): I think I gave the honourable member this answer in a previous question he asked of me. Let me just say that I am advised that SA Water has completed a root cause analysis into the burst water main which caused the flooding of the residential properties in Paradise, Campbelltown and Newton last week. I released that, I think, last Friday.

I am advised that the results of the report indicate that the cause relates to a planned water storage tank inspection and cleaning process, which was being undertaken at the Hope Valley water treatment plant. I am further advised that it appears that the valves which were being operated to drain one of the storage tanks were operated in the incorrect sequence, resulting in a pressure surge in the water main.

This pressure surge was likely responsible for the burst experienced further along the 450-millimetre diameter water main. SA Water will be reimbursing affected residents who have experienced damage or loss. I have since called for SA Water to immediately review its incident response processes, particularly around attending incidents to assist and talk with affected residents to help them work through what are highly distressing situations for them, alongside the very prompt response from the technical crews.

I am advised that SA Water has already determined that their response to future incidents should be aligned to the state's disaster recovery process, and they will be responding to me shortly. SA Water is continuing to work closely with the impacted customers to ensure that they can return to their homes as soon as possible.

I say again that we understand and sympathise with the trauma that these people have gone through. We were on the ground as fast as possible. But we do need to come back to the facts. I know that for some honourable members in this chamber facts are cheap; they do not mean very much, but when you compare the failure rate of water mains of interstate providers it demonstrates how favourably in comparison SA Water performs.

The National Performance Report compares the failure rate, and the new performance report was released just last week. It compares the failure rate of water mains of utilities between comparable interstate providers with a customer base of over 100,000 customers—that is so you can compare apples with apples. Overall, the statewide water main failure rate has been quite stable for the past 10 years, which is largely due to the comprehensive sustainable asset management proactive strategy for water mains.

In 2014-15, SA Water had a burst rate of 14.2 bursts per 100 kilometres, compared to 39.3 for the Yarra Valley in Victoria; 37.1 in City West in Victoria; 32.2 in south-east Victoria; 29 in Barwon in Victoria; 28.94 for Hunter Water, now in New South Wales; 28 in Brisbane; 26 for Sydney Water; 15 for the Water Corporation metropolitan network, in WA; 14.2 for Icon, in the ACT; 7.1 on the Gold Coast, Queensland; and 6.5 in Logan City Council.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: I am not interested in listening to number studies.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The Hon. Mr Brokenshire says to the chamber that he's not interested in listening to these facts.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: These are false figures.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: He's now saying that these nationally prepared figures by the Bureau of Meteorology are false figures. Goodness gracious! What does it take to convince this man about facts? Bureau of Meteorology scientists aren't good enough for the Hon. Mr Brokenshire.

The PRESIDENT: The honourable minister, don't get side-tracked by the Hon. Mr Brokenshire. Answer the question and we will get onto the next one.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The Hon. Mr Brokenshire is one of many in this chamber who deserve to be educated with facts ad infinitum and, if I had my way, I would.

So, we say that whilst our immediate concern in relation to this incident is about helping the affected residents, we need to understand that there are breaks in every water system around the nation and, indeed, the world. SA Water does particularly well with its ongoing maintenance program to keep the numbers of breaks and bursts that we have in South Australia to a minimum. Compared to interstate comparisons, we do remarkably well, and that is not even discussing the handicap we have with Bay of Biscay soils. With those reactive clay soils—

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: We hear the Hon. Mr Brokenshire, not believing they actually exist; he can join the Hon. Mr Ridgway in that belief. We don't have Bay of Biscay soils in Adelaide according to those two people, but indeed we do, and we have to deal with that. SA Water do a fantastic job year on year, keeping those breaks well below the ESCOSA set standard and well below comparative water utilities interstate. You only do that with comprehensive maintenance programs—that's what we've got, that's what we've put in place and that's what we will maintain.

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