IN A bold bid to become a model city for sustainable desert living, Port Augusta is undergoing a remarkable transformation.
While ambitious plans for gigantic solar thermal towers are yet to be realised, smaller changes in how the city harvests and uses its water are already being implemented, and could be equally significant.
With an average annual rainfall of barely more than 250 millimetres, the city has struggled for water even during normal years, but it was last decade's crippling drought that prompted the council to take some strong action.
First up, they addressed the supply side of the problem, with a Waste Water Treatment Plant at Central Oval set up in 2006 and a $2.5m upgrade in 2013, including a new 75-megalitre dam.
Port Augusta Council acting chief executive officer Michael Dunemann said the money invested would not take long to recoup.
"We're producing 500 kilolitres of reclaimed water per day, worth about $1800 a day, so we are looking at roughly $700,000 worth of water every year," he said.
High salinity in sewerage posed issues for the plant but recent work undertaken by SA Water has enabled less salty sewerage to be diverted there, including wastewater from the Port Augusta Gaol sewerage system transferred by SA Water's new rising main.
More than 2.5 kilometres of pipeline has since been installed to complement the water capacity.
During periods of low demand or high rainfall, surplus water from the treatment plant is stored in the dam, and drawn in summer months to provide additional water.
Much of it is used in the city's parks and gardens, which became particularly water-intensive after the introduction of the Westside foreshore development, which came in during last decade's drought.
The added pressure on the city's water needs at a time when water was scarcer forced a rethink not just on supply, but its use.
To achieve greater efficiency, the council turned to the city's Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden for answers.
First proposed by Parks and Gardens superintendent John Zwar Dunemann in 1981 as a vehicle to spread awareness about native plants, the botanic garden today boasts an interpretive centre, conference facilities and nursery.
It was the last of those which proved of most interest to council, which decided to take advantage of the nursery to complement the water savings mustered by the wastewater treatment plant.
Instead of water-intensive European plants, council started opting for water-efficient varieties bred at the botanic garden.
Mr Dunemann said these native species use less water and have their own unique beauty about them.
* Full report in Stock Journal, September 25, 2014 issue.
