A fresh fleet of excavators at SA Water is fostering workplace pride and delighting the community after a fierce naming competition yielded adorable results.
SA Water and metropolitan delivery partner, Service Stream, have officially named its ten new excavators from submissions by employees’ families and a colouring-in competition.
The new diggers’ names include Tommy Hill Digger, Ellavator and Diggersaurus, and are based at the utility’s two metropolitan field operations depots at Hope Valley and Happy Valley, with the names proudly marked on the back of the machines.
SA Water Senior Manager Field Operations, Colin Bell, said the fleet of air-conditioned excavators are already in operation and boosting staff morale and pride in their work.
“The team is really excited about having their kids involved in the naming process, with plenty of healthy competition around the names,” Mr Bell said.
“So, the next time you are driving around Adelaide and see our newly named machines, remember the reason behind and the crews behind them.”
The colouring-in and naming competitions were launched in November 2024, with each young entrant receiving a Lego set and certificate for their entry.
The ten names were selected from a field of about 30, with voting sparking a flurry of friendly rivalry among SA Water’s crews.
The new excavators are named Ellavator, Diggity, DiggerBot, Tommy Hill Digger, Rocky, Bumble Bee, Emu, Diggersaurus, Texcavator and Goldy.
SA Water Service Delivery Manager, Kym Martin, said it was great to see the initiative foster such interest and passion among the crews.
“For me it’s all about pride, passion and purpose, and getting the teams really connected not only to looking after one another and being safe in what they do, but pride in their equipment, jobs and each other,” Mr Martin said.
“While our purpose here is to deliver trusted water services, we always want to do that more productively, safely and happily.”
The heavy machinery delivery also included new tipper trucks and trailers.
The excavators replace the original fleet that had been in operation across the two depots and are used for large repairs on the water and wastewater network.
