Down the drain: SA Water figures show we lose 40m litres daily from leaking and burst pipes

THE staggering amount of water lost each day through leaking SA Water pipes has been revealed — and even though it’s increased 25 per cent in a decade the government still rates this an “excellent” result.

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ADELAIDE is losing more than 40 million litres of water every day through leaking mains pipes, new figures show, as SA Water yesterday took full responsibility for the flooding of homes in two suburbs and said it would compensate residents.

The amount of water wasted daily — three times the daily amount of water produced by the desalination plant — has increased by more than eight million litres, or 25 per cent, in the past decade, according to SA Water figures obtained by The Advertiser.

One in ten litres of water passing through the supply system is now lost to leaks and burst water mains, the water utility said.

But the State Government continues to insist we have an “excellent” rating in relation to water leakage.

Apologising yesterday for the flooding at Paradise and Campbelltown that affected up to a dozen homes this month, River Murray Minister Ian Hunter said a report into the “highly distressing” incident, which affected up to a dozen homes, found the burst pipes were related to the opening and closing of valves during maintenance works at the Hope Valley Water Treatment Plant.

Mr Hunter said SA Water would work with the affected residents and their insurance companies “almost immediately” to ensure they were fully reimbursed.

Earlier this week, SA Water’s board said it would consider compensating householders who were devastated by the recent spate of burst water mains.

Two SES workers help residents after being flooded apparently due to a water main burst in Willow Drive, Paradise. Picture: Russell Millard

The Civil Contractors Federation SA says that pipe maintenance has been neglected at a cost to householders and taxpayers and urgent action should be taken to plug leaks, which over the course of a year add up to more than 15 billion litres.

SA Water spends $50 million a year on pipe maintenance but declined to put a value on the cost of the water leaking from the network.

However, if priced at the cheapest rate charged to the householder, the lost water would be worth $35 million over a year.

Federation chief executive Phil Sutherland said SA Water “was not spending enough on maintenance’’.

“Clearly the preventive maintenance regime is not working,’’ he said.

“The Water Minister says SA Water is spending millions a year on maintenance but clearly it is not enough.”

Mr Sutherland believes SA Water’s pipe maintenance had gone from being proactive to reactive.

Mr Hunter, however, hit back by saying SA Water was among the best in the world for dealing with leaking and burst pipes.

“The indisputable facts are that we are ranked on a global water utility index as having an ‘excellent’ performance in relation to leakage, and our burst rate is among the nation’s best — far, far less than Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney,’’ he said.

Mr Hunter said that because the report on the recent flooding showed the burst was likely caused by an operational error, SA Water would reimburse affected residents.

“What occurred last week was obviously highly distressing for people living in the area where the flooding occurred,” he said.

SA Water operations manager Mark Gobbie said no-one would be reprimanded for the error.

He said the team operating the valves during the maintenance works had been trying to save water while draining the tank when they caused a pressure surge resulting in seven pipe ruptures.

Mr Gobbie said measures would be put in place to prevent similar pressure surges including the use of interlocks to prevent valves being used in the wrong sequence in the future.

Neither Mr Hunter or Mr Gobbie were able to say how much the damage bill would cost.

Mr Hunter also called for a rapid change in SA Water’s incident response processes, so SA Water representatives were on scene to speak to affected residents sooner.

“We also want to see our human resources team out on the ground earlier than they have been in the past so they can explain to residents what’s happening,” he said.

He said the rate of burst water mains in SA had been “pretty standardised for the last 10 or 15 years” and SA Water had “less breakages and less bursts than almost any other comparable water utility around the country”.

He said most burst water mains were caused during the change of seasons as reactive clay soils became drier or wetter, placing pressure on pipes.

SA Water figures show that while the water network has been expanded by the laying of 450km of new pipes in the past ten years, the rate of water lost to leakage and burst mains has also increased.

According to SA Water estimates, the rate of water lost from the city’s water supply was 10.4 per cent last financial year — up from 7 per cent in 2005/06.

However, an SA Water spokeswoman said the water pipe network was “in good condition’’ and the average age of metro water mains is 51 years — 53 years in regional areas — while pipes can be “useful’’ for up to 150 years.

Opposition infrastructure spokesman David Pisoni said it was “not acceptable’’ for SA Water to oversee a “crumbling pipe system’’ while it delivered a $279 million profit to the State Government last financial year.

“Since Labor came to power in 2002 the average household water bill has increased by 241 per cent, yet South Australia’s water infrastructure continues to deteriorate,” he said.