Solutions

McLaren Vale grape growers save 70% on mains water prices

Willunga Basin Water Company, SA Water and City of OnkaparingaIn the late 1990s a group of viticulturists and winemakers realised that billions of litres of waste water containing tones of Nitrogen and Phosphate, was being discharged into the Gulf St Vincent from SA Water’s nearby Christies Beach Waste Water Treatment Plant.

Through a strategically planned public/private partnership, the privately owned Willunga Basin Water Company secured the rights to the public water source until 2038.

Today, more than 50 per cent of the region’s production, about 120 vineyards covering approximately 4,000 hectares, are now totally reliant on treated waste water from the company to irrigate their vines.

“The company has a contracted potential demand of over 5 billion litres per year and expressions of interest for a further 2 billion litres. Most importantly, by recycling we will be able to save a further 500 million litres of costly and valuable potable water annually which was previously used for irrigation,” said Tony Sims of Willunga Basin Water Company.

Tony said that in absolute economic terms, Willunga Basin Water Company’s contribution to the McLaren Vale region is worth over $40 million annually in grape production and $100 million in wholesale wine value.

In 2004, the company reached an additional agreement with the City of Onkaparinga to manage the storage dam that receives the treated effluent from the Willunga Waste Water Treatment Plant, which serves the local communities of McLaren Flat, McLaren Vale and Willunga.

Willunga Basin Water Company, SA Water and City of Onkaparinga are now partners in the Water Proofing the South Project, a City of Onkaparinga initiative focused on delivering a localised integrated water resource management strategy. Federal government funding has also been won to build three new storage facilities expanding the scheme’s capacity to more than 1,800 ML per annum.

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