For many decades South Australians relied on using unfiltered water from the River Murray.

 

However, SA Water now provides 98% of the population with high quality filtered water which meets or exceeds standards set by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

 

A key factor in this achievement was the start of a program in the 1970s to construct a series of major water filtration plants which would ensure the State’s water supply met high water quality standards.

 

 

Hope Valley Filtration Plant

 

Hope Valley was the first of the six metropolitan water filtration plants to be constructed and was completed in 1977 at a cost of $19.5 million.

 

At the time, the plant won a Civic Trust Award for civil design, a South Australian Engineering Award and an award for excellence in engineering from the Institution of Engineers Australia.

 

The Hope Valley Water Filtration Plant sources its water from the Hope Valley Reservoir which is in turn receives water from the Millbrook and Kangaroo Creek Reservoirs. The plant has a capacity of 273 megalitres per day and serves areas generally north of the River Torrens.

 

 

Anstey Hill Filtration Plant

 

Anstey Hill was the second of Adelaide’s water filtration plants to be commissioned and was completed in 1980.

 

It treats water from the Mannum-Adelaide pipeline and the Millbrook Reservoir.

 

The plant, which at the time of construction cost $14.5 million, has a capacity of 344 megalitres per day.

 

 

Barossa Filtration Plant

 

The Barossa Filtration Plant was the third filtration plant to be built in Adelaide and was completed in 1982 at a cost of $18.1 million.

 

It treats water from the Barossa and South Para Reservoirs.

 

The plant has a capacity of 160 megalitres per day.

 

 

Little Para Filtration Plant

 

Little Para was the fourth of six filtration plants built to serve metropolitan Adelaide and was completed in 1984 at a cost of $22.6 million.

 

The plant has a capacity of 160 megalitres per day.

 

 

Happy Valley Filtration Plant

 

Happy Valley is by far the largest of the six Adelaide filtration plants and was commissioned in two stages in 1989 and 1991.

 

At the time, Happy Valley was the largest filtration plant in Australia, with a capacity of 850 megalitres per day.

 

 

Myponga Filtration Plant

 

Myponga was the sixth and final plant in a long term project to bring filtered water to metropolitan Adelaide and was completed in 1993 at a cost of $18 million.

 

Unlike the other plants, Myponga receives no water from the River Murray, but instead operates from water collected in a natural catchment. As a result its source waters are of a predictable quality, high in colour and organics and low in turbidy.

 

This, and the small size of the plant, allowed the use of a different filtration process called dissolved air-flotation.

 

The Myponga plant has a capacity of 50 megalitres per day.

 

 

Morgan Filtration Plant

 

The Morgan Filtration Plant was built to provide high quality water to upper Spencer Gulf cities of Whyalla, Port Pirie and Port Augusta and was completed in 1986 at a cost of $31 million.

 

The plant was the first to provide filtered water outside the metropolitan area and also serves Clare, Burra, Jamestown, Peterborough, Wallaroo and Iron Knob. As well, the plant meets part of the demand from Yorke Peninsula in conjunction with the Swan Reach plant.

 

The plant takes water directly from the River Murray and can produce 200 megalitres of filtered water per day which is transported via the Morgan-Whyalla Pipeline.

 

Middle River Water Treatment Plant (WTP)

 

In 1998, a $2 million Middle River Filtration Plant on Kangaroo Island finally resolved the problem of poor quality water for a large area of the Island.

 

Located along the pipeline from the Middle River Reservoir, the plant can produce up to three million litres of filtered water every day and was an important development supporting the Island’s tourism and gourmet food industries.

 

Mount Pleasant Water Treatment Plant

 

Mount Pleasant treats River Murray water using two treatment streams. One stream uses Magnetic Ion Exchange MIEX® pre-treatment followed by membrane filtration and the other stream uses the conventional process. This plant was commissioned in 2001 as a demonstration and reasearch site with the view to developing the process and applications further. SA Water, CSIRO and Orica (formerly ICI) developed this MIEX® technology for the improved removal of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) from the source waters.