Delivering Water
SA Water Delivery Network
The map shows the extent of the pipelines which carry the water from the Murray River to houses and businesses all across the state, and that is only South Australia! It is a large network, with the majority of the water supply to the Murray River reliant on the Murray Darling basin for catchment.
- To ensure the supply of water to the pipeline, Yorke Peninsula still relies heavily on reservoirs and dams. In particular, the Beetaloo Dam in the lower Flinders Ranges. The dam was completed in 1890. The dam design and materials used were so different from other dams constructed at the time that the available machinery was not suitable. The Waterworks Department designed and built its own fit for purpose machinery to build Beetaloo.
- Beetaloo dam holds 3,180 megalitres spreading over 33 hectares and was the largest in the southern hemisphere when it was originally built. It is located 19 kms east of Port Pirie.
- Bundaleer dam, near Spalding, SA was completed in 1901. This dam also contributed to water supply for Yorke Peninsula, with concrete lined channels and pipelines linking the water sources.
- While these dams also have a catchment area to contribute to the water levels, the pipeline from the Murray is a major source of water to Yorke Peninsula.
Bundaleer Scheme - Bundaleer is an aboriginal word meaning “amongst the trees”.
- The Bundaleer Reservoir, located near Spalding and south of Beetaloo, was built between 1898 and 1903 to supplement supplies from the Beetaloo Reservoir. Bundaleer is an earthen reservoir (capacity 6,370 megalitres), fed from the Bundaleer, Baderloo and Freshwater Creeks and the Broughton River, with mains connecting to the Beetaloo mains, and to towns and surrounding districts in the Mid North. The scheme includes 30 kilometres of concrete channels to divert surface waters into the reservoir, and at the time was considered a significant engineering achievement.
- Pumping stations along the pipeline keep the water pressure up, but with increasing demand for water, the ability of the pipeline, ranging from 30 to 10 inch diameter, was put under severe strain at peak usage times.
- In early 1960 work began preparing the site of what was to be the solution to water pressure problems in Port Vincent, the water tower! By February 1961 the tank was ready for testing and after a month of testing, the water tower was ready for use on March 24th 1961
- Life changed with regular reliable water at a good pressure, and gardens, indoor flushing toilets and kids enjoying the age old game of running through sprinklers on the lawn in hot weather, became the order of the day. No longer did people have to worry about the tank running dry in a poor season.
- Prior to the advent of mains water farm holdings were reliant on underground water, using windmills and tanks to supply water to stock. The impact of reliable water to farmland also saw a great deal of confidence grow in the agricultural area. Whilst farms around Port Vincent do not irrigate crops, reliable water to troughs to ensure livestock have a good supply of water has seen a very successful increase in livestock management. Cropping continues to rely on the seasons, and the subsequent rainfall for crop production.
- Yorke Peninsula is known as the ‘Barley Capital of the World’. You will find barley from the Yorke Peninsula in most glasses of Australian beer.
- Feedlots, pig farming, beer production, wine making, alpaca wool production, and other methods of diversifying farming income have been made possible on the Yorke Peninsula due to this reliable water supply.
- Today the Yorke Peninsula gets water primarily from the Swan Reach Water Treatment Plant, via a pipeline from Swan Reach to Nuriootpa-junction, then to two storages near Paskeville. Water can also be directed from the Morgan-Whyalla system into the Paskeville storages, via the Bundaleer trunk main and via a cross-connection into the Nuriootpa – Paskeville main near Auburn. In 2021, roughly half the water feeding the Yorke Peninsula is from Morgan and half from Swan Reach. During peak periods half of Port Vincent’s water comes from Swan Reach, though this varies a lot depending on capital works, customer demand, breakdowns, etc.
- In recent times the pipeline has been extended to include the Warooka area which was solely reliant on underground water, much of which is degrading with extensive use of the underground resource.
Info from SA Water
