A UTILITY which plunged 150 metres into the Blue Lake last month was safely retrieved from the volcanic crater on Friday during a successful operation coordinated by SA Water.
SA Water’s Mount Gambier-based team together with crane and diving experts safely removed the partially-submerged Mitsubishi Triton in just under two hours.
When the operation started just after 7am, dozens of people had gathered at lookouts around the lake’s edge.
One group of tourists – who were just hoping to catch a glance at Mount Gambier’s main tourist attraction – were gobsmacked when they heard a car was being retrieved.
“Someone crashed their car all the way down there?” one tourist said.
The group joined the watching party as professional interstate divers began to hook the vehicle to a dinghy before floating it to the nearby pumping station.
Once at the pumping station, divers attached the vehicle to the hoist and the inflatable devices were removed.
A short time later, the large 220 tonne crane lifted the utility out of the lake more than a month after a 22-year-old man crashed it into the Mount Gambier landmark.
It was lifted around 15 metres to a platform at the pumping station, before it was wrapped in tarp and hoisted away from the lake’s surface.
While the operations appeared seamless, SA Water senior production and treatment manager Lisa Hannant said the retrieval was a complex and delicate process.
“Although the actual lift only took around 45 minutes, we have been busy planning and considering all possible aspects of this operation for the past several weeks,” Ms Hannant said.
“This type of job is very unique, but we still treated it like any other major work in terms of putting the safety of the community and our workers at the forefront.”
It is still unclear whether SA Water will seek to recoup costs from the the 22-year-old man who crashed the vehicle into the lake on August 3.
“At the moment, SA Water is covering those costs – our focus has been retrieving the car and making sure we do it safely,” Ms Hannant said.
“We will now turn our focus to other issues.”
The bulk of on-site preparation began on Thursday, including set up of the crane and the use of divers to manoeuvre the car into position.
“Early in the morning, the dive crew floated the vehicle around 200 metres to the retrieval area, before it was lifted out of the water by a 220 tonne crane with a 71-metre arm, which was situated on a higher level within our pumping station site,” Ms Hannant said.
“Once out of the water, the car was placed on a truck and transported off-site to be used by the SES for training exercises.”
As a precaution, Mount Gambier’s drinking water supply was switched and sourced from the local borefield.
“The water remained safe to drink, but some customers may have noticed a slight difference in taste and colour,” Ms Hannant said.
“SA Health was notified of the change, along with the local hospital and any critical customers, as per standard procedure.”
Normal supply from the lake has since resumed.
“Water quality results from samples collected from the lake after the car was removed determined when water supply could again be sourced from the Blue Lake,” Ms Hannant said.
