Wet weather has forced a prolonged delay in an SA Water project to upgrade a major water main underneath Rundle Park / Kadlitpina (Park 13)

As we reported in our newsletter back in April 2021, the upgrade is regarded as essential (if not long overdue) after a very old, major pipeline burst on Botanic Road in 2016. The pipeline supplies a large portion of the metropolitan area (including the CBD).

SA Water was limited in its options for installing a new pipeline because the O-Bahn tunnel goes underneath Rundle Park near the corner of Dequetteville Terrace.

*The route being used for the new pipeline required the removal and replacement of 12 trees (none listed as significant) .*

City Council staff held a site meeting with SA Water's project team in Rundle Park on Thursday 12 August.

They assessed all the remaining work to be done and the remediation that is required and decided that the project was likely to extend until the end of November.

Advice from the City Council is that remediation will be extensive but it will be done to the Council's satisfaction. So far, Council staff report that SA Water “has been very cooperative to work with and considerate of the Park’s trees and environment.”

In the meantime, however, a significant portion of Rundle Park remains fenced off to accommodate the machinery and necessary works equipment

Photos: Elaine Niedorfer