Farmer Michael Burford forced to shower in bore water after rain water tank runs dry

This farming family in the state’s Mid North was left with few options after the rain water tank ran dry.

A fifth-generation farmer and his family in the state’s drought-stricken Mid North have battled skin infections after having to shower in non-potable bore water when their rain water tank runs dry.

Michael Burford was forced to divert bore water into his farmhouse, about 50km north east of Peterborough, after his concrete house tank ran dry twice in 12 months during one of the driest years on record.

The former North Adelaide SANFL footballer, 43, said showering in bore water caused skin irritations for himself, his wife Louise, 39, and son Brock, 10. Another son Brodie, 13, also showered in the water but was not adversely affected.

“I suffered from eczema as a kid anyway, and when we use the bore water it flares it up a bit again,” Mr Burford said.

“Brock is certainly the same as me, Brodie has skin like a Greek god, so it didn’t bother him. And Lou said it was terrible for her hair and gave her slight skin irritations.”

Sheep farmer Michael Burford on his property Merngenia Station north east of Peterborough. Picture Mark Brake

He said the family was forced to use bore water “for a few months” late last year but received a reprieve when charity Rural Aid answered an SOS call and delivered a truckload of water to the homestead in December.

The house was close to running out of potable water again until it received 18mm of rain in March – the first decent fall in months. That downpour replenished the 40,000-litre tank with enough water to last another couple of months.

“I’ve had a lot of friends in town, in Peterborough, who have 5000 litre tanks or whatever, saying come and grab our water if you want, but I don’t have anything to cart it with,” Mr Burford said.

“I’ve got a water carter for my stock purposes but I can’t put drinking water in it because it’s had bore water and dam water in it. And it’s sort of a wasted trip going into town just for 5000 litres – I needed bulk (water) coming in.”

Peterborough farmer Michael Burford with his wife Louise and children Brodie and Brock. Picture: Supplied

Mr Burford said he had a “good bore” and a “bad bore” he could pump water from to supplement the house tank supply when rain water fell too low.

“One’s a bit saltier than the other – I try to use the good one to shandy it up until I can get a load of water in. But it’s not great on the skin, as you could imagine.”

Bore water has a high mineral content and can also damage household appliances such as hot water services, washing machines and dishwashers.

Mr Burford runs about 2100 sheep on his family’s 15,000-hectare station called Merngenia.

SA Health principal water quality adviser Dr David Cunliffe said bore water was “generally speaking” acceptable for showering but could have aesthetic issues such as “being salty, having high levels of hardness and hard and occasionally odours”.

“Some people who are not used to bore water report that it can dry out the skin and that soap doesn’t lather, but these are not health impacts,” he said.

Deputy premier and water minister Susan Close said houses not connected to SA Water were responsible for managing their own water supplies and may need to source bulk water if their tanks were running low.

“The State Government understands that the lack of rainfall is severely impacting many parts of the state and that people living off the water grid are doing it tough,” she said.

Opposition Primary Industries spokeswoman Nicola Centofanti said it was appalling and shameful South Australians were living in “third world conditions struggling to access something as basic as clean, reliable water”.