Morgan students hold water history

Around 25 Morgan Primary School students from Years 2 to 7 got hands-on with little pieces of the region’s water history last week, during an excursion to the nearby Morgan Water Treatment Plant.

The students were able to see and feel a range of mussel, urchin and snail marine fossils uncovered during excavation works for a new 30 megalitre earth bank water storage tank at the site.

SA Water General Manager Communications and Engagement Anna Jackson said this rare educational opportunity was a result of the area’s geology.

"Building our new water storage tank at Morgan has taken us into a limestone layer called the Mannum Formation, which is abundant with marine fossils that date back more than 11 million years," Anna said.

"As well as teaching students about the processes involved with providing safe, clean drinking water, focusing on the fossils gave us the opportunity to talk about factors shaping catchment areas, like the marine environment that was here before the sea retreated and left behind sediment and deposits.

"Salt deposits left behind from the ancient warm tropical sea where coral and shellfish proliferated, have a lasting influence on the modern landscape we all know, and the way it’s managed."

Morgan Primary School Principal Kellie Zadow said the students always enjoy learning about what’s happening in their home town.

"The fossils sparked a lot of curiosity and they were able to make connections with their own experiences of seeing fossils around town," Kellie said.

"Science, technology and maths are important parts of our curriculum, with the students building small water filters last term, and learning about the way liquids are measured as part of their maths unit."

SA Water has moved around 70,000 cubic metres of soil, including fossiliferous limestone, to create the treatment plant’s new storage tank that will increase the efficiency of the facility which supplies drinking water to more than 130,000 people.

In addition to the new tank, the plant is also receiving upgrades to its filtration and disinfection systems.

Water from the Morgan Water Treatment Plant is delivered to SA Water customers from Burra and Clare in the state’s Mid North all the way to Central Eyre Peninsula, and was voted the best tasting tap water in the state for two years running by the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia.

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