As thousands of new homes are built across Adelaide in the coming years they'll be connected by one thing - the sewerage system. Millions of dollars are being poured into an upgrade of SA's largest water treatment plant to prepare for increased demand. But questions are being raised about whether the state has the capacity to meet its needs.
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00:00To solve a housing crisis, the solution lies deeper than you might think.
00:08More people, more houses equals more sewerage and so we've got to have the capacity to deal
00:13with that.
00:14A $121 million upgrade is currently underway at the Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant,
00:21the largest processor in the state.
00:23Essentially doubling the amount of sewerage that can come through this plant from 300
00:28million litres to 600 million litres.
00:31A crucial step towards unlocking housing in Adelaide's northern suburbs where hundreds
00:36of homes are having their sewage stored in pits and trucked to the treatment plant.
00:42A temporary solution some say is the result of a decade of underspending in infrastructure
00:48projects.
00:49Having shelter for people is the most important thing and if that means tankering in the short
00:53term while the infrastructure catches up, that's a viable solution.
00:57That whole tankering is pretty disgusting I think.
01:00Most people would be horrified that in this day and age that's being used as a solution.
01:06It should only be a temporary solution.
01:08The opposition is also calling for greater transparency on the number of homes slated
01:13for construction and how the government plans to bolster the number of apprentices and trainees.
01:20The housing road map talks about 6,000 per annum and there were basic questions that
01:24weren't answered about how many do we train now, how many can the industry accept.
01:30An ongoing problem not easily flushed away.