Improved water quality ready to flow for the Fleurieu

Residents in Yankalilla, Normanville and Carrickalinga will soon have a new, high-quality water supply flowing through their taps as a result of SA Water’s efforts to continually improve drinking water services for customers.

The final disinfection process applied to cleaned and filtered drinking water sourced from the Myponga Reservoir will soon be changing from chlorine to chloramine.

SA Water’s Senior Manager of Water Expertise and Research Dr Daniel Hoefel said residents in the three towns will soon receive the same improved water quality already provided to Myponga, following the township’s supply switching to chloramine in 2018.

“Water stored in the Myponga Reservoir is fed from rainfall, making the disinfection process vital to remove any organic materials present in the supply as it flows through catchments into the reservoir,” Daniel said.

“When chlorine is added to help our treatment team make the drinking water clean and safe to drink, it reacts with this organic matter and generates a by-product called trihalomethanes.

“The more than 600 kilometres of water mains across the Fleurieu Peninsula mean some parts of the network have seen exceeded levels of trihalomethanes from time to time, and while the water is still safe to drink, our continued drive to improve customer services means we want to achieve these results 100 per cent of the time.

"Changing from chlorine to chloramine will ensure the Fleurieu’s water remains clean and safe to drink, but with a slightly different and improved flavour profile.

“Some people tend to notice that tap water disinfected with chlorine has a distinct smell and taste, and chloraminated water lessens this effect.

“Some of our best-tasting and award-winning tap water from towns like Morgan, Keith, Port Pirie, Clare and Whyalla is disinfected with chloramine, and we’re confident that our customers in Yankalilla, Normanville and Carrickalinga will join the more than 200,000 South Australians who currently enjoy chloraminated water in loving a positive change in their supply too.

“Some customers may temporarily experience discoloured water through their taps when we make the change over to chloramine as organic matter gets stirred-up through the pipe network, however this is normal and your tap water remains safe to drink.”

Local residents are invited to taste a sample of the new and improved water supply at SA Water’s community drop-in session, held at Club Fleurieu in Yankalilla between 1pm and 7pm on Thursday 4 March.

“Ahead of the big changeover, our experts will be on hand to answer any questions they may have about their new drinking water,” Daniel said.

"This is an exciting change to the water supply for thousands of our customers on the Fleurieu, and we can’t wait for everyone to try it."

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