Additional water for Port and South Hedland

• $3million upgrades start on Strelley Pump Station
• Investigations continue into expanding Yule borefield

Works have commenced to upgrade a major water pump station that could deliver up to three billion litres of water from the De Grey borefield to the Hedland Water Supply Scheme.

The upgrade follows a recent increase to the Water Corporation's abstraction licence for the De Grey borefield from seven billion litres to 10 billion litres of water per annum.

Water Minister Bill Marmion said the $3million Strelley Pump Station upgrade included the installation of a new booster pump, associated pipework and valves and was expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

"The upgrade will cater for the increased abstraction licence, initially delivering one billion litres of additional water each year to the scheme," Mr Marmion said.

"Investigations are under way to determine if the existing De Grey borefield can be expanded to deliver the remaining two billion litres to meet the growing water needs of the Port and South Hedland region."

In addition, the State Government is also progressing project approvals to expand the Yule borefield, which aims to deliver an additional two billion litres of water per annum to the scheme.

"These works involve installing three additional bores and associated pipework, replacing more than 27km of transfer main between Yule and South Hedland and upgrading the Yule pump station and chlorination unit," the Minister said.

"The project team is working as quickly as possible to progress these important works, with construction expected to begin early next year and be complete by the end of 2014."

The West Canning Basin is also being investigated as a potential source to provide 10 billion litres of fit-for-purpose water for major industry use in the area.  Findings from the investigation are expected to be finalised in December.

      Fact File

• Hedland water supply scheme sourced from De Grey and Yule River borefields
• Upgrade works and investigations to support delivery of additional 3 billion litres of water from the De Grey borefield progressing
• Project approvals also progressing to expand Yule borefield
  . Overall scheme capacity to increase from 15.5 billion litres to 18.5 billion litres a year

Minister's office - 6552 6800