Egg-citement builds ahead of Kangaroo Island’s new desal drop

Kangaroo Island’s largest egg producer says access to safe and clean tap water produced by SA Water’s new desalination plant will significantly reduce operating costs and drought-proof its large business.

Kangaroo Island Free Range Eggs is among the approximately 700 residents and businesses connecting to SA Water’s drinking water network for the first time, following construction of Penneshaw’s new two megalitre-per-day capacity desalination plant.

Located on Hog Bay Road, the new facility is set to start producing safe and clean drinking water for local customers within coming weeks.

Kangaroo Island Free Range Eggs’ Co-Director Tom Fryar said the desalinated water supply will be a gamechanger during the dry summer season.

“We rely on rainwater to provide our hens with drinking water and to wash the more than 300,000 free-range eggs we supply to our customers each week, which has historically proved to be challenging without a connection to mains-supplied water,” Tom said.

“This has required us to truck water in to fill our existing water storage tanks during the warm and dry summer months, adding significant costs to our bottom line.

“Having access to mains water produced by the new desalination plant will reduce these costs and enable us to confidently operate our business into the future without the reliance on rainfall.”

SA Water’s General Manager Customer, Community and Engagement David Coombe said it’s rewarding to see the benefits Penneshaw’s new desalination plant will deliver for the community.

“This is just one example of how Kangaroo Island’s new water source will deliver a positive experience for our customers, and the region more broadly,” David said.

“Water plays such an important role in maintaining health and hygiene while also supporting the economy, and it’s exciting to know that our new plant is providing one of the region’s largest producers with the flexibility to streamline and improve their operations.”

Constructing the local water network required to safely supply SA Water’s new customers has been a sizeable task, including laying around 36,000 metres of underground reticulation pipe in the townships of American River, Island Beach, Baudin Beach and Sapphiretown.

“This links in to the 50-kilometre-long trunk main laid underneath Hog Bay Road that, once operating, will transfer drinking water produced at the plant for the Island’s connecting homes and businesses,” David said.

“Having spent recent years designing and constructing Penneshaw’s new desalination plant, we look forward to seeing water flowing through our water network within a matter of weeks.”

Penneshaw’s new desalination plant will work in tandem with the existing nearby desalination facility and Middle River Water Treatment Plant to increase the security of Kangaroo Island’s drinking water supply and improve the region’s bushfire resilience.

More information about the project can be found at watertalks.sawater.com.au.

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