The South Australian town of Coober Pedy is facing a problem with the supply of its most precious resource … and it’s not opal.
The famous desert community has long done things its own unique way and that extends to the way it gets its water, but trouble could be on the way. Very unusually for a town of its size, Coober Pedy maintains its own water supply and network.
It sources its water from the Great Artesian Basin via a bore based 25 kilometres from the town. The water goes through a water treatment plant, before being distributed to houses and underground dugouts throughout its network.
However, the District Council of Coober Pedy (DCCP) says problems with the town’s ageing water network could leave locals left high and dry, and make life difficult for grey nomads visiting the opal capital of the world some 850 kilometres from Adelaide.
The ABC reports that there have been a lot of recent leaks in the old pipe network and officials are currently struggling to locate a particularly large one which is causing them to lose about 30% of their water into the ground somewhere.
Acting Chief Executive Officer and Water Manager, Colin Pitman, said the network was close to breaking point.
“We now have to produce 30% more water to supply the residents that we’ve got,” he told the ABC. “It means the water supply is only just balancing the water demand.”
He said any growth, permanent or temporary, in Coober Pedy could see demand outweigh supply.
District Council of Coober Pedy administrator, Tim Jackson, said urgent action may be needed to prevent a future water crisis.
“It is approaching time when major infrastructure increase will be needed to service the customers of the council and provide for anticipated growth,” he said.
Shouldn’t be hard to find the leak, it will be where all the green grass is….
How much money has been spent on maintaining and upvrading this pipeline since it’s construction? I bet it’s close to zero. Now they will be looking for a massive handout to build a state of the art system.