Good news from SA - Biomass Boiler to fuel Aquatic Centre

(Courtesy ABC News)

The installation of a new biomass boiler at the Mount Gambier Aquatic Centre has begun.

The new boiler replaces one which has heated the pools for the past 25 years.

The Mount Gambier City Council's Aaron Izzard says it is the only public pool in Australia to use the approach.

He says it is environmentally friendly and sustainable.

"It can run on any kind of biomass woody material, so woodchip or sawdust," he said.

"So we've been buying it from a local mill, our sawdust supply, so that supports the local economy, the local forestry industry and it's also carbon neutral because the trees that the sawdust are from are regrown, so essentially that's a carbon neutral process.

"It is the only public pool in Australia that uses biomass to heat the water, most of the other ones are natural gas for whatever reason but in our situation being in a real forestry hub it really makes sense to run it on biomass and it's good for the environment and good for the local economy."

It is expected the boiler will be fully operational for the upcoming swimming season.