New water main coming for Glen Osmond

SA Water is replacing around 302 metres of water main under Vine Lane in Glen Osmond, between Glen Osmond and Portrush Road, to reduce the impact of water main breaks on its customers, local businesses and the area's road users.

The upgrade is part of an ongoing program that will see $137 million invested to replace around 375,000 metres of water mains across South Australia between 2016 and 2020.

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

“Water main incidents are typically triggered by environmental factors like weather and soil movement, so we can't completely stop them from happening, 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.”

Both the old and new 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.

Work to install the new water main will typically take place between 7 am and 5 pm from Monday to Saturday and will take around four weeks to complete.  

“In this instance, the new pipe will be laid using traditional trenching techniques with some temporary traffic diversions in place from time to time,” Mark said.

“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.

“Residents of Vine Lane and the surrounding roads should also keep an eye on their letterbox for advance notice of any temporary water supply outages that will be needed when we cut over the old and new pipes.

“We’re also working with businesses to minimise the impact of our work on their trade.”

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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