SA Water’s Morgan Water Treatment Plant will receive a $15 million upgrade to help meet demand and improve water quality for more than 130,000 customers.
The project has been contracted to Leed Engineering and Construction who will begin construction in late 2017 and will employ around 20 people for the duration of work.
Work will include the construction of a new 30 megalitre water storage – bringing the total on-site storage to 42 megalitres – and upgrades to filtration and disinfection systems.
Minister for Water and the River Murray, Ian Hunter, said, “A reliable supply of safe, clean drinking water is vital for community health and wellbeing, and is SA Water’s top priority.
“On average, 80 million litres of water goes through the Morgan Water Treatment Plant every day and is delivered to homes, farms, businesses, and large industrial sites in the Upper Spencer Gulf region.
“This project will improve the resilience and efficiency of the plant and the wider local supply system, and during construction, water will continue to be treated and supplied as usual.”
The plant services an area from Burra and Clare in the state’s Mid North all the way to Central Eyre Peninsula. It has been operating since 1986, and is one of 43 SA Water-managed water treatment facilities across the state.
The plant treats raw water from the River Murray, which is then supplied through the 379km Morgan to Whyalla Pipeline.
Raw water from the River Murray typically contains suspended dirt, organic material and microorganisms, so it goes through a number of processes to clean and treat it.
This includes filtering to cleanse the water of fine particles, and the use of chloramine to disinfect it, which is needed to prevent microorganisms re-growing while the water flows through the long pipeline to Whyalla.
The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2018.
