The Coonawarra Penola RSL has received a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs, issued under the Veteran and Community Grants Program.

The $67,918 grant will be used to refurbish the RSL toilets and fix the underground sewer pipe system.

Coonawarra Penola RSL President Peter DeGaris believed the project would cost over $80,000 and the RSL would contribute the remaining funds.

Mr DeGaris said tree roots had infiltrated the clay pipes for the toilets, which were installed in the 1950s.

Mr DeGaris said the toilets themselves were also dated, so they would receive a revamp.

The stainless-steel urinal in the men’s restroom will be replaced with two urinal bowls along with the regular toilet and the ladies’ restroom will be expanded to two toilets.

The room that is currently used as an office will be converted into a disabled toilet with a baby change table and the front foyer of the hall will also be modified to enable easier access to the toilets.

Mr DeGaris said another issue with toilets that were not used daily, such as the RSL toilets, was calcium build-up due to hard town water, which could cause problems such as leaking toilets.

To overcome this problem, they built a shed and a large rainwater tank at the back of the hall so the toilet facilities will be connected to rainwater rather than town supply.

“Once you get rainwater in there you solve a lot of problems, and we have already got the tank, we have been planning for this for a long time.” Mr DeGaris said.

Steplen Constructions will be undertake the upgrades.