$4.2m extension to Virginia pipeline scheme
Posted: Wednesday 28th November 2007
Earth Tech has begun work with SA Water on a USD$4.2 million (AUD$4.7 million) extension of the Virginia Pipeline Scheme to deliver an additional three billion litres a year of Class A recycled water to Angle Vale area in the Northern Adelaide Plains in Australia.
The project is being managed by SA Water and funded by the South Australian government and the Australian Government Water Fund under the Water Smart Australia program.
Earth Tech will design and build a new 20-kilometre pipeline network to deliver recycled water to existing horticulturists and market gardeners at Angle Vale and open up new land for irrigation. The extension will be completed by September 2008, in time for the 2008-09 irrigation season.
Peter Everist, Earth Tech Group General Manager, said the Virginia Pipeline Scheme continues to lead the way in Australia for sustainable water management and has established South Australia as an Australian and world leader in water recycling.
“Sustainable water use is one of the greatest challenges facing communities in Australia and around the world,” Everist said. “After 11 years of continuous drought, it is certainly a major concern for Australian farmers.”
Earth Tech currently supplies about 40% of Australia’s Class A recycled water and is the country’s largest supplier of recycled water for farming. The company operates over 200km of pipeline networks that supply recycled water directly to more than 360 customers, mainly for food production, recreational facilities and residential uses such as toilet flushing and garden watering.
Angle Vale grower, Pat Virgara, said that the last two seasons were the worst drought on record and had put his business under considerable pressure.
“Once this recycled water comes on board, it’ll ‘drought proof’ us to a certain extent and give us the buffer we need to keep the business viable. It couldn’t have come at a better time,” Virgara said.
The Virginia Pipeline Scheme is operated by Earth Tech and currently supplies 15 billion litres a year of Class A recycled water. It was Australia’s first major water recycling project and remains one of the world’s largest and longest running high quality water recycling schemes.
One of Earth Tech’s other recycled water projects, the Eastern Irrigation Scheme in Melbourne, also features Australia’s largest membrane ultrafiltration recycled water treatment plant. It received a Project Innovation Award from the International Water Association in 2006.
