The Lenswood pump station in the Adelaide Hills has undergone a transformation as SA Water seeks to turn functional assets into meaningful art pieces.
The 62-year-old asset, which continues to supply drinking water to the Lenswood area, now brandishes a 62km2 hand-painted mural by Ella Germein, a celebrated South Australian musician and accomplished public artist.
The 15.5m-wide by 4m-tall design wraps around two walls and features two yellow-tailed black cockatoos perched on a branch as three Scarlet Robins hover above.
The mural captures flora and fauna native to the Lenswood and broader Adelaide Hills region and highlights water’s essential role in the community.
“Our Art on Infrastructure program is about more than just aesthetics, it’s about turning functional assets into meaningful landmarks that reflect local landscapes, wildlife and community pride,” SA Water manager of brand and community connection Kellie McDonald said.
“This mural has transformed a pump station into a vibrant piece of public art that feels unmistakably at home in Lenswood and the wider Adelaide Hills.”
Germein has delivered public artworks across South Australia, with the Lenswood mural joining a growing list of Art on Infrastructure projects where SA Water has partnered with local artists to reimagine pipelines, pump stations and other assets as community-focused artworks.
Elsewhere, SA Water has used concrete boom pumps to help it install two 10-megalitre storage tanks at Sandy Creek.
More than 46,000 cubic metres of soil has been excavated and removed from site to support the 48m-wide tanks, with the slab for each tank requiring 400 cubic metres of concrete.
This has seen crews pour for eight hours continuously with the help of two concrete boom pumps.
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