Community plantings sprout success at Millbrook

Over 20,000 native plants grown by volunteers from the Kersbrook Landcare Nursery are springing to life at the Millbrook Reservoir as part of an important revegetation project by SA Water to improve the area's natural environment.

Formerly a pine forest until it was cleared in 2012, crews have worked with the landcare group on recreating a grassy woodland ecosystem, after a bushfire three years ago caused a mass of weeds to grow throughout the 24 hectare site.

SA Water's Vegetation Specialist Shaun Kennedy said a recent visit to Millbrook by nursery volunteers offered a chance to see the fruits of their labour, with a new functional environment taking shape.

"It's taken a few years to properly clear the woody weeds out of the area, but the end result looks amazing and is testament to the skill and persistence of our people working together," Shaun said.

"The results so far are very promising, with our surveys showing the establishment of over 2.2 million native grasses and a total of 84 different species of plants.

"Revegetation efforts like this are critical to creating healthy ecosystems and catchments, which are important to ensure the water quality in our reservoirs is safely and cost effectively maintained for our customers."

The initiative is part of SA Water's commitment to positive environmental management and contributes to the important offset for vegetation removed as part of the upgrade works at the Kangaroo Creek Dam.

Kersbrook Landcare Group Nursery Manager Yvonne Gravier said it was wonderful that the volunteers could see the results of their propagation flourishing out on site.

"This has been one of the best revegetation projects that I have ever seen, with an extremely impressive range of species and clever placement of planting across the site," Yvonne said.

The Millbrook Reservoir is one of SA Water's primary water storage areas, with a capacity to hold almost 16 billion litres of water - equivalent to around 6,400 Olympic swimming pools - for supply to residential and businesses customers across metropolitan Adelaide.

SA Water proudly works with and supports community groups to achieve positive results across South Australia, including partnering with 17 organisations as part of the 2018 Community Partnerships Program.

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