The SA government is prepared to invest $33 million into a new desalination plant on Kangaroo Island.
The facility would be built adjacent to the existing plant at Penneshaw and would be part of a $47.8 million plan to connect the plant to the rest of the Island with a new set of pipelines.
The government says the infrastructure would allow water supply to a potential new golf course at Pennington Bay and other commercial developments.
New pipelines would also enable customer connections in American River, Baudin Beach, Island Beach and Sapphiretown.
The state government is working closely with the federal government to secure the additional funding required for the pipelines.
Premier Steven Marshall flew into Kangaroo Island on Friday, June 5 to make a number of announcements.
Mr Marshall the $33 million desalination plant investment would create an estimated 500 jobs and add more than $200m of economic value to KI in the next 15 years.
The government wanted to secure KI's drinking water supply, encourage more economic activity and improve the Island's bushfire resilience, he said.
The two-megalitre a day seawater desalination plant would improve drinking water security and provide better water infrastructure to support the local tourism and agriculture industries, he said.
It will supplement the existing 400-kilolitre a day Penneshaw Desalination Plant and the 540-megalitre Middle River Reservoir as drinking water sources, supplying KI through an interconnected pipeline network.
"The summer's devastating bushfires highlighted the water infrastructure issues faced on KI and a new desalination plant will improve water security and supply," Mr Marshall said.
Water Minister David Speirs said the desalination plant would be a critical piece of water infrastructure for KI.
"Along with new pipelines, it would enable more than 1000 properties at the eastern end of the island, who currently source their water supplies through rainwater tanks and private water carters, to connect to a secure and reliable drinking water source," Mr Spiers said.
At the height of the summer's devastating bushfires, the present KI water supply system could not provide enough water to meet demand on the system from both customers and firefighting.
Fire damage to the Middle River treatment plant also meant that customers were reliant on water carted from Penneshaw and the mainland.
