45 of the best for Clare’s dedicated Dave

While much has changed over the last half a century for SA Water’s District Leader for Clare and Mid-Murray Dave Daly, his love of the local community has never diminished.

Growing up in Jamestown before joining the local depot in 1974, Dave worked his way up the ranks at SA Water depots in Balaklava and Nuriootpa before settling down with his family in the Clare Valley, where he remains to this day after an amazing 45 years of service.

“Living just across the road from the local depot, I managed to muster up the courage one evening after school to ask the District Foreman to take me on as a trainee water worker, which he thankfully did,” Dave said.

“It is strange to think that was more than four decades ago, but I consider myself extremely privileged to have been in this role for so long and still get a thrill knowing what I’m doing is important to the region I love.

“My family and I just love the lifestyle and sense of community here in Clare, and even having moved around with other positions at SA Water depots over the years, the daily two-hour round trip from home to Nuriootpa was a far easier task for me than leaving the region.”

Dave now leads a team of 12 people who work to maintain the water distribution network in the Clare and Mid-Murray regions, including replacing water mains, fixing leaks and connecting new customers to the local water network.

“The technology has certainly changed for the better over the last 50-odd years, with our work to repair water mains back in the 70s done mostly by hand using a jackhammer pick and shovel,” Dave said.

“We also had to read all the individual local water meters ourselves, which although time consuming was great in building a terrific rapport with the community.

“Much of my time these days is spent teaching and mentoring the next great crop of young workers, but I still enjoy nothing more than getting out and about and lending a hand where I can.”

Dave recently added to his extensive list of career milestones by officially turning on Orroroo’s new drinking water supply for around 300 customers in the surrounding area, with a new 36-kilometre pipeline connecting the township with treated River Murray water from the Peterborough network completed in March.

“I’ve been involved with working through a solution to Orroroo’s salty ground water supply for many years, so it was a great honour to be nominated for the town’s ceremonial switch-over to high-quality treated water piped from the River Murray,” Dave said.

“It is already making such a big difference to the Orroroo community, and is something I’m proud to have been involved in.”

SA Water’s Senior Manager of Customer Field Services Colin Bell said the milestone is testament to Dave’s hard work and perseverance.

“Dave is a highly-valued member of our team and this milestone is great recognition of the positive impact he has on both the business and our customers in the Clare and Mid-Murray regions,” Colin said.

“45 years with SA Water is a tremendous achievement, and we’re extremely fortunate to have Dave and many other dedicated and skilled people working across the state to provide world class water services for our customers.”

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