South Australia is a national leader in the management of leakage from our water supply network. While our record is excellent by industry standards we are constantly striving to improve our performance.
Why is water lost?
We have more than 26,000 kilometres of water mains in the State – and more than 8900km of these are in metropolitan Adelaide.
Adelaide’s reactive soils are the major cause of leakage as soil movement pulls pipe joints apart and, in extreme cases, can actually crack the pipes.
Age is not a major factor in the performance of water mains. Indeed, some of the mains laid in 1873 continue to perform well. More than 80% of our mains are relatively modern, with most laid since the 1950-60s.
How does SA Water compare?
Water loss is reported in the National Performance Report for Urban Water Utilities. In the 2007-08 report SA Water recorded an average water loss of 63 litres per connection per day – compared to the national average of 68 litres and the highest rate of 91 litres.
We also recorded an Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI) level of 1 – an improvement on previous years. ILI is used by utilities around the world to report leakage and takes into account factors such as accuracy of meters, water used for fire fighting, theft, length of min, number of connections and system pressure.
To see how national water utilities compare and perform visit the Water Services Association of Australia's website.
How do we respond?
SA Water constantly tests and inspects mains. In the short term we have a replacement priority process and this takes into account a number of factors including pipe age, pipe material and burst history. Using this process we replace the worst performing pipes.
In the long term, there are 25-year plans for main replacements using models based on asset lives and historical burst history.
We repair about 2000 bursts and leaks each year, and crews operate 24 hours a day, every day. Work is prioritised based on a number of factors including the potential for disruption to customers and damage to property or the environment. While every job is important, the largest bursts and leaks, or those which pose the greatest risk of disruption or damage, must always be attended to first.
Water leakage reduction program
In July 2008 the State Government announced an $8 million, three-year leakage reduction program aimed at saving five billion litres of water a year that could otherwise have been lost in small leaks that frequently are not visible from the surface. Under to program Adelaide’s entire water distribution network will be checked for leaks. To view the media release click here.
The leakage reduction program has since been extended to include Mount Gambier. SA Water is investing $100,000 to audit Mount Gambier’s entire water distribution network for leaks. The program is the first of its kind in regional South Australia.