A newly drilled bore is now the primary source of water for Amberley and is estimated to soften the water by nearly 50%

The new water source was commissioned prior to COVID-19 Lockdown and has been slowly introduced over the last few months. It is intended to soften the water and also increase the supply for the summer months.

The bore has been a while in the making and came about due to community concerns regarding discolouration and hardness of the water in Amberley.

Supplying the new water source came at a cost of $1.3m and required a newly built plant, the 141.5 metre deep new secure bore, 6 new 30,000l reservoirs, a water treatment and booster pump station and five kilometres of pipeline to get the water to the township reservoir.

When only running the old bores the hardness of the water was around 155-165 mg/l on the hardness scale. The new bore is between 70-80 mg/l. This is being mixed with a small portion Leithfield Beach water and that hardness is around 90-100 mg/l.

Chief Operations Officer Dan Harris explained what is expected from the new bore and a bit about the Three Waters Teams’ journey in delivering it.

“It’s difficult to gauge exactly what the new hardness level will be in Amberley but it’s likely to be nearly 50% of what it was. The iron in the new bore is very low and this combined with our flushing routines, has seen a significant drop in discolouration complaints. Those that we do see are normally linked to old iron deposits in the pipe that come free periodically. Running the tap for a minute or two normally removes that,” he said.

“This was a four to five year journey for the Three Waters Team, the consenting and design process for the new bore alone took over two years. We’ve seen improvements along the way, but the new bore is the big change we’ve been waiting for. It’s operating really well and we are all pleased to deliver on what residents have been asking for.”

The old bores that previously supplied Amberley were hard and high in iron. They will now only be used when the demand is excessively high over summer.

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