The Coalition will deliver a stormwater wetland in Victoria Park through a $4 million grant to the Adelaide City Council.
 
This commitment will assist with stormwater capture and reuse, further ease Adelaide’s demands on the Murray, assist with flood mitigation and allow the Adelaide City Council to fulfil their vision for Victoria Park.
 
On average approximately 900 million litres per annum of stormwater will be harvested from the Park Lands Creek. This water will be treated in the new Victoria Park wetland, with treated stormwater directed into aquifer storage for later recovery and reuse.
 
As well as being a key water saving initiative to benefit Adelaide and the River Murray, this project will also assist with flood mitigation in the Keswick Creek, a key concern of western suburbs residents.
 
Adelaide City Council has already committed $3.275 million towards their $14.4 million masterplan for Victoria Park.
 
Combining water recycling, flood mitigation and parklands improvements, the Victoria Park wetland is a real win, win, win for South Australia.
 
This is the latest in a series of detailed water policies outlined by the Coalition, including commitments to:
  • provide $16.5 million to the Waterproofing Eastern Adelaide Project, harvesting stormwater from the Torrens River;
  • develop a National Standard for the use of Stormwater in Potable Water Supplies, ensuring that stormwater is used in a way that genuinely reduces reliance on stressed river systems;
  • establish a $100 million Community Water Conservation Grants Program;
  • release the hidden Murray Darling Basin Plan within two weeks, finalise it without delay and recover the water necessary to implement it and provide sustainability to the Murray Darling;
  • deliver stalled water saving infrastructure projects across the Murray Darling Basin, making food producers more efficient, while returning water to the environment;
  • purchase additional 150 billion litres of water for the Lower Lakes and Coorong in 2010-11; and
  • aim to put 100 billion litres of freshwater into the Coorong this year, for the first time in years.
The Victoria Park wetland will be funded from within the Coalition’s Community Water Conservation Grants Program and the existing National Urban Water and Desalination Plan.
 
Our commitments to water issues are detailed in two fully costed and detailed policies available. By contrast, Labor have released no policies on water conservation or the Murray Darling this election, just a couple of press releases. 
 
The Coalition’s commitment to fix the Murray, provide immediate relief to the Coorong and seriously address stormwater reuse through real action is beyond doubt. 
 
Labor’s Penny Wong promises that “a re-elected Gillard Government will continue to do the things we are already doing”.
 
This Saturday South Australians should tell Labor that more of the same on water is just not good enough. Only by voting Liberal will we see real action on the Murray, the Coorong and stormwater reuse.
Category: Media Releases