A WATER jet caused by pressure below the footpath in a city draining bore on Commercial Street West was recently captured by a resident’s dashboard camera.
Tony Payne was travelling east on the busy city road at 5.17pm last Thursday when he saw a huge spurt of water shoot high into the air.
The water reached similar height of nearby powerlines which average around six to seven metres tall.
Located only one door down from the city’s SA Water office, a spokesperson confirmed it was not a water main break.
“Our Mount Gambier depot advised they attended this site after seeing the water shooting into the air and determined it was not related to our infrastructure, as there was no evidence of a water main break, such as lifted bitumen,” an SA Water spokesperson said.
City of Mount Gambier engineering, design and contracts manager Daryl Morgan confirmed the incident was no cause for alarm.
“This does happen from time to time,” he said.
“Basically the stormwater runs into our drains and if there is a huge downpour the air is unable to escape fast enough, which builds an air bubble creating pressure which eventually forces the water to shoot out as seen in the video.”
Mr Morgan said shaking a bottle of soft drink before opening illustrated the type of response.
He said the spurt captured by Mr Payne was not likely to reoccur.
“Some areas are more likely to experience something like this than others, but it is very rare,” Mr Morgan said.
“I have only seen this happen once or twice in the city.”
