Progress aplenty for Paskeville irrigation partnership

Tens of millions of litres of reused rainwater has helped beautify Paskeville’s bowling green and sports oval as the result of a water harvesting partnership with SA Water, Copper Coast Council and the Paskeville Progress Association (PPA).

Established in 2015, the project collects stormwater atop covers on SA Water’s 100 million litre lagoon storage at Upper Paskeville, which is an important drinking water storage for customers in the area. The water is then gravity fed to three storage tanks at the Paskeville Sports Complex for irrigation.

The Complex, which houses the town’s football and cricket oval and lawn bowls green, is managed by the PPA with support from the Copper Coast Council.

SA Water’s General Manager Customers, Strategy and Innovation Anna Jackson said with sport such a large part of many regional communities, the corporation actively worked with all parties involved to best support the facility’s watering needs.

“Coming up to almost five years down the track, we’re excited to see the amazing results this has so-far yielded for the Progress Association and the wider Paskeville community,” Anna said.

“This was unused water that previously just pooled on the surface of our lagoon cover, and through working together with Council to construct a new pump station and water pipeline, we have been able to better use rainwater while reducing the Association’s water costs at the same time.

“This a great example of everyone working together to achieve great outcomes for the local community.”

President of the Paskeville Progress Association Grant Pontifex said the pipeline has eased the financial requirements of watering the oval more regularly, particularly in the warmer cricketing season.   

“Our water costs to maintain the sporting facilities was slashed to just 10 per cent of our average bill within the first year of this project, and even with less rainfall in recent years our annual watering costs are down by around fifty per cent,” Grant said.

“This partnership has provided an enormous boost in keeping our facilities at a high standard for the community and sports teams to enjoy all year round without hurting our hip pocket.    

“While we understand this isn’t a complete solution to our watering requirements, it has proved to be an extremely beneficial asset given much of the area unfortunately remains in drought-like conditions.”

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