Desalination plant to become a vital source for State's water supply

29/7/04
Premier Geoff Gallop has announced that the State's next major water source will be a desalination plant to be built at Kwinana.
Dr Gallop said work on the $350million project would begin immediately to help secure future water supplies for Western Australia's Integrated Water Supply Scheme.
The plant would be built and owned by the Water Corporation and would provide an additional 45 gigalitres of water into the Integrated Scheme - or an additional 17 per cent annually.
When complete in 2006, it would be the biggest desalination plant in the southern hemisphere and would complement dams and groundwater schemes as a third water source for Perth, parts of the South-West and towns serviced through the Goldfields Pipeline to Kalgoorlie Boulder.
The Premier said the State Government would be playing Russian roulette with our future if the project did not proceed.
"The threat of a drying climate is with us now and desalination is a proven technology capable of delivering large quantities of water independent of the weather," he said.
"This will be the eighth year in succession that our rainfall has been significantly below average.
"Both our underground and surface water supplies are not being recharged to the appropriate levels.
"Desalination gives us a weather independent source and will bring balance to our portfolios of water sources. It will also reduce the risk of introducing job destroying sprinkler bans that would undermine the amenity of our beautiful city."

The project will create up to 200 jobs during construction and is expected to be delivering water within two years. WA will be the first State in Australia to use desalination as a major source for a public water supply scheme.
The impact of the project on water pricing will not be decided until the 2006-07 Budget and will take into consideration final project costs and the Economic Regulation Authority's report on water pricing.
It is estimated that the impact on the average household bill will be less than a dollar a week.
Dr Gallop said the decision to go ahead was the culmination of years of research by the Water Corporation.
"Our run of dry winters has driven our quest to investigate alternative water sources," he said.
"An alternative proposal to pipe 45 gigalitres of water a year from the South-West Yarragadee aquifer is currently not a viable option, because ongoing investigations into the environmental impact would not be completed for some time."
The desalination plant will use a reverse osmosis technique employed successfully in the Middle East, Spain, Malta, Cyprus and the USA. It is widely regarded as the most economically and environmentally friendly desalination technique.
Reverse osmosis is a process in which the seawater diffuses through a series of membranes at extremely high pressure, which remove salts and impurities from the water. It is used on most ocean-going vessels (including cruise ships and navy vessels) and by industries that require very pure water. The Swan Brewery, for instance, uses the reverse osmosis technique in its Canning Vale plant.
Dr Gallop said the water from the desalination plant would be of an equal, or superior, quality to the current water sources which supplied the Integrated Water Supply Scheme.
This decision comes on top of a range of initiatives that have been taken by the Government since coming into office, including:

• the highly successful rebate program for households;
• construction of a wastewater reclamation plant in Kwinana;
• the creation of additional capacity from our traditional underground and surface sources; and
• water trading within farms in the South-West.

Sprinkler restrictions have been introduced but total sprinkler bans have been avoided.
Government Enterprises Minister Nick Griffiths said he was pleased the desalination plan was set to become a reality.
"I have been a great supporter of desalination and given the reduced rainfall the South-West of the State is experiencing, it is a responsible course of action," Mr Griffiths said.
The chief executive officer of the Water Corporation, Dr Jim Gill, said the greenhouse emissions associated with the desalination plant would be completely offset by the Water Corporation.
"The Water Corporation is already recognised as a national leader in greenhouse gas abatement through its energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon sequestration initiatives," Dr Gill said.
"We will now take on a new challenge - to entirely offset the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the energy used by the desalination plant.
"At this stage we are looking at planting trees in the salinity-prone catchments to offset the greenhouse gas emissions, reduce salinity and improve water quality."
Premier's office: 9222 9475