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The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: I seek leave to make an explanation before asking the Attorney-General, representing the Minister for Government Enterprises, a question about the maintenance of the Eyre Peninsula water pipeline system.
Leave granted. The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: On a recent trip to Eyre Peninsula, I was concerned to see the state of the pipeline that provides all the water to that area. First, in relation to trees, in the past they have been cut back and kept well clear of the pipes, but there are now examples of trees that are rubbing against the pipeline to the extent where they have bared the metal below the protective paint and, in some places, the trees have been allowed to grow for such a time that they are now pushing the pipe from the concrete saddles on which it sits. As I travelled along I was also very concerned to see that parts of it were badly degraded by rust. In fact, you could travel kilometre after kilometre in the car and quite easily observe the rust as you drove along. I am told that the pipeline needs to be painted with an iron oxidising stabilising agent. The rust that is occurring is called cyclic chloride corrosion. A person on Eyre Peninsula wrote to me about this and explained that the cyclic chloride corrosion occurs in situations where atmospheric salt is present as a catalyst. Of course, much of Eyre Peninsula is subject to that sort of condition. This person says that the time will come in the not too far distant future when the cyclic chloride corrosion that is under way in the above ground parts of the water main system of Eyre Peninsula on the West Coast will start to be noticed with increased main bursts. If several happened in a short space of time during hot weather, it is not hard to do some calculation using the published figures for tank storage along the system and work out the amount of water required by the livestock reliant on the system as the sole supply of their drinking water. If that were the case, the situation could easily arise where hundreds and thousands of head of stock could be at risk from the failure of the water distribution system. I am reliably informed that the reason that the pipeline is in such disrepair is that SA Water has slashed to the bone its maintenance staffing levels on Eyre Peninsula. Apparently, the maintenance crew at Port Lincoln in the past few years has fallen from 60 to 12. My questions to the Minister are: 1. How many maintenance staff does SA Water currently employ on Eyre Peninsula, and what were the comparative figures for the financial year 1985-86 and 1994-95? 2. How many maintenance staff does SA Water currently employ in each of its operational zones on Eyre Peninsula and, for comparison, what were those numbers in 1985-86 and 1994-95? 3. What does the Minister propose to do about the degradation of the pipes on Eyre Peninsula?The Hon. K.T. GRIFFIN: I will have to take the questions on notice, refer them to my ministerial colleague in another place and bring back a reply.