North South Interconnection System Project wins project management award

At the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) Project Management Achievement Awards for South Australia, SA Water and the Waterlink Joint Venture (MWH, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Tonkin Consulting) won the Construction/Engineering Projects >$100,000,000 category for their delivery of the North South Interconnection System Project (NSISP).

The $403 million NSISP is, according to engineering delivery manager Josh Smith, “the most significant augmentation and enhancement of Adelaide’s water supply system ever undertaken”, streamlining Adelaide’s water supply sources to provide a single city-wide network.

“NSISP combines new and existing infrastructure and integrates a bulk water transfer capability across traditional boundaries in the same network that delivers water to the customer tap across the entire metropolitan area,” he said.

“It has involved the construction of four new major pipelines totalling 32 km in length, three new pump stations, five valve stations and a series of other works throughout the metropolitan network at over 100 sites.”

The Waterlink Joint Venture contributed engineering, project management and design services to the NSISP, working in an integrated project team environment with SA Water. Smith said it was this integrated project management approach which helped overcome challenges on the complex project.

“Our approach had to be flexible enough for the integrated team to effectively manage the challenges related to scale, complexity, continuity of water supply, budget, time frames and community expectations,” he said.

“The project team’s record speaks for itself - the project was delivered on time, within budget and achieved over 1.8 million hours worked without a lost time injury.”

Smith said the project has “completely transformed the way in which SA Water’s entire metropolitan water network functions and operates”, making it possible for the first time “to take advantage of water availability, independent of source or network location, delivering an unprecedented level of flexibility and reliability of water supply to the community”.

The team will be automatically considered for the AIPM national awards, to be held in October.