A SMALL section of Finger Point Beach, near Port MacDonnell, will be closed to the public during maintenance work on water treatment piping.
SA Water announced it is currently building temporary bypass pipework to allow it to start maintenance on the nearby water treatment plant’s outfall pipe.
The work is expected to take around eight weeks, with signage in place to let people know which part of the beach is closed.
SA Water senior manager of capital delivery Peter Seltsikas said a recent routine inspection found there were minor cracks and leaks in the outfall pipe.
“Like wastewater treatment plants operated around the world, our Finger Point plant safely discharges highly cleaned and thoroughly treated wastewater 100 metres off the beach via the outfall pipe, which is located under seawater and encased in concrete,” he said.
“While this particular section of pipe has operated reliably for more than 50 years, we’ve recently identified a few minor cracks that we need to repair to ensure it continues to remain in sound condition for years to come.
“The plant plays a critical role in protecting public health by taking wastewater away from Mount Gambier for treatment, and taking the pipe offline for this work requires a temporary bypass to keep the facility operational.”
Mr Seltsikas said crews had been working since last month to install an above-ground pipeline and are now at the stage where they need to build a section that crosses the beach towards the ocean.
“The 450-millimetre-diameter poly pipe will be anchored parallel to the existing outfall pipe’s alignment and run along the beach’s surface until it reaches the water, where it transitions to a buried pipe of a slightly smaller size with a stainless steel diffuser to release our treated wastewater,” he said.
“Construction activities will be carefully planned to accommodate the challenging site conditions associated with working in water, with infrastructure pre-fabricated where possible to allow our installation to progress as quickly as possible given our need to align work within low tide and low swell times during the day.
“Once the bypass is up and running, our operators will switch the flow to the new pipework to maintain service while enabling our crews to commence investigations on the pipe and prepare a methodology for repairs.”
