New water main coming for Bedford Park

Starting this week, SA Water will replace 367 metres of water main under the entire length of Rupert Avenue in Bedford Park, as part of a $137 million investment over four years to renew around 375,000 metres of water main across South Australia.

SA Water's General Manager of Asset Operations and Delivery Mark Gobbie said this section of pipe had been prioritised for replacement after recent breaks and leaks.

“We can't completely stop breaks and leaks from happening, because they’re often triggered by weather or soil movements, but we're fully committed to reducing their incidence and impact on our customers,” Mark said.

“The new pipes will be made of PVC, which is flexible and more resistant to the movement caused by the area’s reactive clay soils compared to the existing, rigid cast iron and fibro-cement pipes.”

Work to install the new water mains will take around four weeks to complete, and will typically occur during the day between 7 am and 5 pm, Monday to Saturday.

“Please be alert to changed traffic conditions in the area, which will be in place for the safety of road users, pedestrians and our workers,” Mark said.

“We’ve been working closely with Flinders Medical Centre, Flinders Private Hospital and Flinders University to minimise construction impacts.

“We’ll also give local residents advance notice of temporary water supply outages that will be required when we cut over the old and new pipes.”

Both the new and existing water mains have an expected lifespan of 100 years. More than half of SA Water’s 27,000 kilometre network of pipes are under 50 years old, which is relatively young by urban water industry standards.

For more information on when and where water mains are being renewed across the state, as well as details on existing pipes, take a look at the interactive map available at sawater.com.au.

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