Kingston water tower rocking a fresh refurb

SA Water’s 33-metre-high water storage in Kingston SE has been treated to a facelift, with a refurbishment of the concrete structure now complete.

The $275,000 project delivered together with South Australian contractor Swart and Sons, becomes the utility’s third tank upgrade in recent months, following the completion of work at Marla in the state’s Far North and major maintenance at Millicent in the South East expected to be finalised within the next few weeks.

SA Water’s Acting General Manager of Sustainable Infrastructure Nima Gorjian said refurbishing Kingston SE’s water storage is part of the utility’s four-year, $1.6 billion capital investment plan.

“A supply of safe, clean drinking water is vital to protecting public health and stimulating economic growth, and investing in our water infrastructure ensures we can continue to provide reliable water services to support our communities and businesses,” Nima said.

“Between 2020 and 2024, we’re investing $52.7 million to refurbish more than 60 water tanks across South Australia, with work for around a third of these either complete or underway.

“As part of the Kingston SE project, the tower’s concrete roof, walls and external pipework were restored, along with recoating the top section to maintain its structural integrity, and general cleaning around the base.

“The inside of the tower remains in sound condition, which meant we could maintain its normal storage level and keep water flowing to local customers, while performing our work to the external features of the structure.

“Given the light footprint of their antenna equipment, we have often allowed telecommunications providers to affix their equipment to our tall water storage towers, to support telecommunications network coverage.

“For the safety of our crews refurbishing our water storage, we worked with Optus and Vodafone to temporarily isolate their equipment housed on the Kingston SE storage, with the telecommunications providers installing temporary towers elsewhere in the town to provide continued services for their customers during our project.

“With only minimal scaffolding remaining around a section of the tower, Optus and Vodafone are now able to return to our site and restore service to their equipment.”

Constructed in 1960, SA Water’s Kingston SE water tower has capacity to hold 450,000 litres of water.

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