Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last month I had the great pleasure of meeting with the Urban Water Stakeholder Reference Panel in Adelaide. The panel was established in 2008 and consists of urban water experts from across Australia, including members from the water industry, local government representatives and scientists—including some Queenslanders, Senator Boyce. Yes, we try to include them in all of our considerations. I had met some of the panel members before, and it was a pleasure to meet the rest of the panel for the first time. The panel meets three times a year and provides practical advice on Australian government urban water policies and programs. Since it was established, the panel has provided advice on its recent research and work programs. These include: case studies on commercial and industrial water savings; research on urban rivers under different stormwater scenarios; and innovative stormwater and aquifer recharge projects.

To gain a greater understanding of the construction and operation of stormwater harvesting and reuse, the panel visited—and I know this will be of interest to Senator McEwen—a number projects in the north of Adelaide. My home state of South Australia leads the nation, as I am sure the senator is aware, in stormwater harvesting and reuse for managed aquifer recharge. The northern suburbs of Adelaide have been at the forefront of that leadership. The panel and I visited three of these northern suburbs sites, guided by the very well-known stormwater figure Colin Pitman. He is the city engineer of the City of Salisbury. He has played a major role in the development of projects in that particular council area.

Our first stop was the Unity Park biofiltration scheme. The Australian government is providing nearly $7 million in funding for this project, which will deliver up to one billion litres of treated water each year when it is fully operational. This water will be used for industry, new residential developments, schools and sports grounds in the northern suburbs. This will reduce the demand on valuable drinking water supplies, helping to keep these areas green and vibrant during the hot summer months. Of course, that is what they looked like while we were out there. The project will initially offset potable water demand by up to 400 million litres a year, with the capacity to increase that offset to one billion litres a year.

During our visit at Unity Park we saw that the construction of six biofiltration beds is well underway, with aquatic plants already in the ground in some of these beds. Biofiltration—as I am sure you are aware, Mr President—is a pollution control technique that uses, for example, constructed wetlands to capture and biologically degrade pollutants.

Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Boyce interjecting—

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am advised by Senator Boyce that she also knows about biofiltration. I am very pleased about that. The innovative aspect of the Unity Park project is that it has a very small footprint—in other words, it does not take up much space. Of course, that is very important in convincing other councils to pick up this sort of technology. This could pave the way for widespread use of this sort of stormwater harvesting technology in urban areas across Australia where there are not large spaces available. The project also includes six new aquifer storage and recovery wells that are being installed along a nearby road verge, again demonstrating that big spaces are not required for this sort of stormwater harvesting and reuse technology.

Senator McEwen would be very well aware of our next stop, which was Parafield, where a Salisbury council project is diverting water from a drain, via a weir, into a capture basin. The water is then pumped into a holding basin from where it moves by gravity to a two-hectare cleansing reed bed. Nutrient and pollutant loads are typically reduced by up to 90 per cent by this process and the salinity of the treated water is significantly lower than that of water from the River Murray. This is a joint project with a local wool-processing company, which I am told is the largest in Australia. Wool washing requires significant quantities of water and the high costs of fresh water and sewerage disposal had lead the company to consider cheaper locations elsewhere. However, the development of this project will provide up to 1.1 billion litres of treated stormwater and waste water for wool processing each year, which will contribute to the security of about 700 jobs in the north of Adelaide.

Our last stop was the Stebonheath Flow Control Park, which is part of the innovative Waterproofing Northern Adelaide project. The Australian government is contributing $38 million to the overall Waterproofing Northern Adelaide project, which is run by a subsidiary of the Playford, Salisbury and Tea Tree Gully councils. It is good to see all of those councils working closely together. The $7.5 million Stebonheath Flow Control Park, which was opened by Senator Penny Wong in March last year, is one of 18 key stormwater harvesting, treatment and storage wetlands to be constructed or upgraded under the wider Waterproofing Northern Adelaide project. The park combines eight hectares of recreational open space with four hectares of wetlands. About 422 million litres of water each year from the wetlands will be injected into the Northern Adelaide Plains aquifer for storage and recovery. Eventually, about 570 million litres will be harvested from the park wetland for irrigation of City of Playford parks and reserves.

The wider project is a great example of how neighbouring local governments can work together on stormwater harvesting and reuse schemes. It is also an example of the federal government’s innovation-driving investment in stormwater projects across Australia. In conjunction with state and local governments, this investment is helping to secure urban water supplies in cities and towns across the country. The meeting and site visits certainly made for an extremely interesting and informative day, and I look forward to my next meeting with the Urban Water Stakeholder Reference Panel.