San Remo Basin Renewal Project

Westernport Water is committed to delivering improved water quality and reliable service to our customers and community.

In April 2022, we completed a $2.6M renewal of the San Remo Basin liner and ageing cover to provide consistent and reliable drinking water services for another 30 years.

The Minister for Water, the Hon. Harriet Shing MP officially opened the project during a visit on Thursday 15 September, 2022.

The project required careful planning from Westernport Water’s specialist teams to ensure that customers continued to have access to a reliable supply of drinking water, while the San Remo Basin was taken offline. This required the construction of a temporary tank.

Why did we need these works?

The San Remo Basin is Westernport Water’s main drinking water storage in our water distribution system. It stores 30 ML of treated drinking water or about five days of supply and is an integral part of the water supply system.

The basin was originally constructed in 1968 as an uncovered earthen basin. Later in 1999, the basin was upgraded with a poly-ethylene (PE) liner and a floating cover.

The theoretical useful life of the San Remo Basin liner and the cover is 20 years. Anything beyond that poses a risk to continuity of water supply and water quality due to deterioration.

By replacing the liner and the floating cover, we have:

• reduced the risks associated with deterioration of the current liner cover
• protected water security
• protected water quality
• ensured adequate water capacity is maintained within our network during peak periods
• ensured dam safety is not compromised
• remained a low visual impact.

Dates

The project was completed in April 2022, three months ahead of schedule.

Minor works to the surrounding grounds were completed in December 2022.