The Malinauskas Labor Government is making a record $1.5 billion investment in water and sewer infrastructure to remove critical barriers to the construction of new homes and unlock thousands of new allotments.

Announced at the Premier’s Housing Roadmap, an unprecedented $1.2 billion will be spent over the next four years to expand the water and sewer network to greenfield development sites in Adelaide’s northern growth front.

The major investment is required to address significant constraints in enabling water infrastructure, which is seeing housing approvals grind to a halt.

Just $172 million was committed to enabling water infrastructure in the previous four year period, with just $20 million on the northern growth areas.

The additional investment will help unlock a potential 40,000 new allotments in SA over the next four years, and allow for future network growth.

The State Government will share the costs to expand the water and sewer network between its own balance sheet, industry and water customers to ensure bill increases are capped at 3.5 per cent above Consumer Price Index (CPI).

This record investment is included in Essential Services Commission of South Australia’s (ESCOSA) Final Determination for the 2024-28 regulatory period, which sets out the revenue that SA Water can recover to operate and invest in the services provided to its statewide customer base.

If SA Water were to fully recover its set revenue cap set by ESCOSA, it is estimated that prices would increase by more than 32 per cent above CPI, an increase of about $440 for the average residential customer in 2024-25.

Instead, the Government has been able to keep water bills at 3.5 per cent above CPI by accepting lower distributions from SA Water than if SA Water was to fully recover its revenue cap.

This means that from 1 July, the average metropolitan residential customer water and wastewater bill with typical water use and average metropolitan property value will increase by approximately $21 per quarter.

Quotes attributable to Peter Malinauskas

For too long, governments have kicked the can down the road when it comes to building water infrastructure.

It has left us with a housing crisis. Spiralling mortgages and rents risk locking our young people out of home ownership altogether.

My Government will not stand for this.

We must make the investments now that set our state up for the future.

The record water infrastructure investment in this Housing Roadmap will unlock thousands of new allotments to allow industry to build the homes we need to deliver on the opportunities before us.

By leveraging the Government’s balance sheet and working closely with industry, we have been able to limit bill increases for SA Water customers.

Quotes attributable to Nick Champion

We are investing in South Australia’s future by building capacity in the water and sewer network so we can house the workers we need for our growing economy.

Despite this unprecedented funding, the Government has worked hard to keep water prices as low as possible.

Sharing the investment across the budget, water customers and developers is the fairest outcome.

Importantly, we have also increased the water and sewer concessions available to help people pay their quarterly bills.

2024-25 Water and Sewerage Average Customer Impacts

Visit housingroadmap.sa.gov.au for more information.