New water main coming for Port Elliot

Starting next week, SA Water will replace a section of water main under Arthur Street between Charteris Street and Murray Terrace in Port Elliot, 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 217 metre section of pipe had been prioritised for replacement to reduce the impact of recent main breaks on customers and road users in the popular coastal town.

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

The main replacement will take around six weeks to complete, and will typically occur during the day between 7 am and 5 pm, Monday to Saturday.

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

“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’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.”

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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