For communities along the River Murray the start of 2023 has been incredibly difficult.
As the flood waters continue to flow downstream, Murray Bridge is seeing the river rising and breaking its banks.
The inundation of water is affecting all of Murray Bridge, including the Murray Bridge Racing Club.
Whilst the Murray Bridge Racecourse appears to be far enough away from the flooding, the pump which is vital to the irrigation of the Murray Bridge Racecourse is at risk.
The facility is wholly reliant on the River Murray for irrigation of both grass tracks, fibre track, uphill sand track, horse stalls, hosedown bays and surrounding grounds.
Mr John Buhagiar, Manager of the Murray Bridge Racing Club, emphasised, “Murray Bridge is a vital training facility for South Australia and losing access to those facilities would have major knock on effects to the wider industry”
The pumping station which transfers water to the racecourse is located on the banks of the river. Last November when the expected levels of flooding became clear, the club explored various plans to ensure daily operations weren’t interrupted.
Mains water supply trickles in at very low rates, delivering water via tankers was deemed unsustainable and other catchment transferability opportunities were unavailable.
To protect the club, its participants, and the wider SA Racing Industry, the race club investigated ways to protect the pumps. Based on the expected flood peak a decision was made to increase the existing levee in front of the pump station to 2.9m. A bund at the rear of the pumps was constructed to enclose the area and protect from levee breaches downstream.
Along with the risk of flooding, SA Power Networks advised that power cuts may be required in the area. The race club has sourced backup generators to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the facility to maintain current operations.
Although this is a difficult time for many people, the community is coming together to help one another. A community working bee delivered 1000 sandbags which were placed around the pumps and wrapped in construction plastic for further protection.
Mr Buhagiar said “We had an assortment of volunteers from club members, a trainer, committee members, our local MP Adrian Pederick, Spry Civil Constructions, local farmers Owen & Kathryn Rothe and MBRC club staff working like a well-oiled machine filling, loading, unloading and placing sandbags on the levee and bund.”
Currently the pump stands as its own island in the middle of the flood waters and the club is monitoring daily for defects.
Mr Buhagiar was positive, saying “Our attitude for this emergency is to be proactive, do the job as well as we can and to the best of our ability. If we succeed we hold our head high and if it fails we won’t have any regrets as we did our best.”
Support from the community has been reciprocated by the club as they have made two hundred tonnes of raw rock material available to assist others in similar situations.
Murray Bridge Race Club is confident their efforts will be successful and current planned race meetings are expected to go ahead uninterrupted.
The next race meeting is scheduled for Saturday 14 January with a nine-race card, with the first race starting at 3:20pm.
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