The Company was formed as a response to the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983. 

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A major weakness in protecting the community was its isolation and the lack of adequate water during the summer months when water is in short supply and unable to service the needs of the residents and fire fighters alike.

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The obvious lessons learned from the Ash Wednesday fires was that, no matter how well prepared the emergency services were to battle fires of this type, there would never be enough resources to protect every property in the area. Much of the protection must be undertaken by the householders and residents themselves. A key component of this protection is access to adequate water.

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The project to provide water to the Greenhill area went through a number of phases and a great deal of lobbying by a dedicated few within the community until finally in 1998, members of the Greenhill Community took a leap of faith and invested in sinking a bore in search of a suitable source of water, with a successful outcome, the State Government responded by agreeing to provide a one off sum of money towards a scheme for the area. This along with support from the Adelaide Hills Council made the project feasible.

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The sole purpose of the Company is to provide its members with a supplementary source of water in a time of need and emergency services with water to enable them to help protect against the threat of house and bush fires.

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As a duty of care and community protection the Company regularly has the water quality tested by Australian Water Quality Centre a division of SA Water.

The Community and Members will be notified immediately of any adverse test results.

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The Company advises all its members to ensure that they have adequate water resources of their own for human consumption and not to rely on the supply provided by the Company.

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The Company as part of its constitution does not to connect water to a property that does not have adequate provision for an independent water supply.

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Supply of water may be restricted at any time due to water leaks, maintenance and member connections, the Month of September each year is the target month for major maintenance.

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Thanks for the completion of the project must go to many people but in particular:

• Peter Sanders

• Don Blackwell

• John Playford

• Graeme Blakey

• Graham Kelly

• Rhonda and Stuart Barnes

The Company acknowledges the generous contributions of the members Greenhill Community who became members, the Adelaide Hills Council and the State Government, without the initial funding and support, this project would not have been implemented.

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Infrastructure currently owned by the Company includes, a large holding tank located on Yanagin Road, a network of underground water mains and hydrants throughout the community of Greenhill and a bore and pumping station.

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The Company provides meters to all member properties to monitor the use of water and has devised a payment system broken up into two fees:

Supply Fee which is fixed each year to reflect the cost of maintaining the system

Usage Fee based on the volume of water used, for details of the location of further infrastructure location and water charges please refer to the Map and Fees and Charges pages.

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SOUTH AUSTRALIA WATER INDUSTRY ACT 2012

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Greenhill Water Supply Co Ltd (Greenhill Water) holds an exemption with the Essential Services Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA). This exemption allows Greenhill Water to operate and provide water to its customers without the need to hold a water retail license. Greenhill Water is also exempt from annual compliance reporting, but the exemption is subject to conditions, mainly that Greenhill Water must still comply with all applicable laws and must inform the Commission of any changes to its water operations. 

 

As part of this exemption, it specifically states that Greenhill Water is treated as a ‘water industry entity’ and therefore has the powers available under the Water Industry Act 2012 which are afforded to water industry entities. This includes the power to enter land under section 62 of the Water Industry Act, subject to the conditions required by the Water Industry Act.

 

The Greenhill Water exemption is publicly available to view at: ESCOSA | Water License and Exemption Register.

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