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TV WATCH
YOUR WEEKLY SEVEN-DAY TV
INSIDE GUIDE LIFTOUT INSIDE TODAY
2009
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Water
BW491057

Tarpeena
milestone

heaven
BY ANELIA BLACKIE
Email: anelia@tbw.com.a
“LIKE heaven” is how a
new migrant to Mount
Gambier described the
taste of the city’s tap
water.
“Our borehole water in
Portugal tasted like tomato
soup and it stained my
white washing and made
my hair orange, and the
pressure on the council’s
tap water was very low
at certain times as the
council turned down the
pressure to save water,”
and bright”.
Behind Mount Gambier,
Plympton rated second
best, with a sample from
southern Adelaide suburb
Morphett Vale coming
third.
Samples from Klemzig,
in the northeast, and
Burnside - which was
likened to the smell of
rotten wood - were voted
joint fourth.
The three testers were
not told of the origin of
each sample until the end
of the experiment.
L i f e l i n e We l c o m e
Program for Skilled
Migrants coordinator
TARPEENA Tennis
Club held successful
50th birthday celebra-
tions on Sunday.
Cricket, social doubles
and a picnic lunch were
among the activities.
Five flowering gums
were planted near the
courts to mark the
anniversary and a com-
memorative plaque was
unveiled.
Merle Judd delivered
a speech on the club’s
history.
The club currently
fields two junior teams
and four senior teams
in the Mount Gambier
Tennis Association.
President Jamie
Irving said tennis was
vital for community
spirit.
pGrant District Councillor Shirley Little (left) and Tarpeena Tennis Club life members Bill •Full report and more
Medhurst and Merle Judd plant one of five trees marking each decade of the club’s history. pictures, page 23.

Geothermal project powers ahead

Nikki Archdale told The
Border Watch.
“In Cornwall in England,
the tap water was not too
bad, but occasionally it
tasted like chlorine.”
Ms Archdale responded
to a panel of experts who
rated Mount Gambier’s tap
water as having the top
taste in the state.
The judges, an Adelaide
restaurant manager, a
wine cellar head som-
melier and the director of
water treatment company
Ecovortak, were asked to
blind-test eight samples of
tap water in the Sunday
Mail office last week.
They rated each sample
out of 10 and after coming
up with comments such as
“children’s sick, swimming
pools or rotten wood,” they
described Mount Gambier’s
tap water as “fresh, clean
Louise Waters said she
had not heard of any new
migrants complaining
about Mount Gambier’s
tap water.
“Our water is the best,”
she said.
“I remember as a child
when we ran tap water in
the bath in Adelaide, we
were scared to get in, let
alone drink it.”
However, Catherine Pye,
a Mount Gambier climate
change activist and secre-
tary for the Community
Action for Sustainability
(CAS) group, was slightly
more critical.
“It took me a while to get
used to the taste when I
moved here,” she said.
“The water was a bit
hard after being used to
rain water, but compared
to Adelaide’s tap water, it’s
a lot better.”
BY JASON WALLACE
Email: jason@tbw.com.au
INVESTIGATIONS into Panax
Geothermal’s potential power generation
from the South East’s underground hot
water resources have found base-load
electricity could be generated at a highly
competitive cost.
Results of an independently reviewed
pre-feasibility study were announced
to the Australian Stock Exchange this
week, showing continued confidence for
the company’s Penola project.
The report found zero emission base-
load power could be generated at a total
cost of $63 per megawatt hour.
“This cost is highly competitive with
other forms of alternative energy and is
similar to that of gas fired power genera-
tion,” managing director Bertus de Graaf
said in the statement.
He said the combination of a com-
petitive cost per MWh and presence
of substantial geothermal resources
measured at 11000 Peta Joules indicated
the project had the scope to sustain gen-
eration of hundreds of megawatts of low
cost, zero emission, base-load power.
“The fact that the project is located
within sight of the national grid adds
further to the potential,” Mr de Graaf
said.
Pre-feasibility studies have been based
on well temperatures of 145 degrees for
use in readily available binary geother-
mal power plants.
The pre-feasibility study is based on a
three-stage development, starting with
a demonstration plant based on one
production well and one injection well.
A second phase plant could then be
added, based on 10 production wells and
eight injection wells.
Drilling of the first production well
(Salamander-1) is scheduled to start in
September and lead to development of
the grid-connected demonstration plant
by the end of 2011.
Mineral Resources Development
Minister Paul Holloway welcomed
progress on the Panax project, which
he said had potential to contribute to
clean, base-load power supplies for the
state.
He said South Australia’s Otway Basin
represented an area of anomalously high
heat flows close to the national electric-
ity transmission grid and an extensive
database of petroleum well and seismic
data to define rock targets.
“Panax has gained a significant
advantage from the easily accessible
and comprehensive seismic and well
information databases managed by
Primary Industries and Resources SA,”
Mr Holloway said.
He said the state was leading the
geothermal sector.

WEATHER Mount Gambier Today - Morning shower or two. 24o – page 27 KID’S PAGE Page 17 COMICS Page 18 CLASSIFIEDS Pages 19-21

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