WA desalination plant ready to come on line

Australian Financial Review
Friday 13/10/2006, Page: 19

Amid the national debate on Australia's water security, Sydney scrapped its $2 billion desalination plant and Toowoomba rejected a controversial plan to drink recycled sewage.

But south of Perth, work has been progressing rapidly on Australia's first major desalination plant, which authorities say will help solve drought-afflicted Western Australia's worsening water crisis.

Within a few weeks, the $400 million plant - the biggest in the world outside the Middle East - is expected to start producing about 17 per cent of Perth's water supply, or about 45 billion litres annually.

Significantly, the governmentfunded project looks likely to be completed on time and on budget - a rare feat in WA's overheated construction market.

"We actually fast-tracked it and we are fully expecting the plant to start supplying water into the integrated scheme early next month," said WA Water Corporation spokesman Phil Kneebone.

It could hardly come at a better time: Perth has recorded its driest year on record, and the city's dam storage levels are just over 30 per cent. Moreover, WA's population is growing rapidly, and water demand is rising in line with the state's economic boom.

Mr Kneebone said the commissioning of the desalination plant at Kwinana would avoid the need for tougher water restrictions in Perth and WA's southwest during summer.

The plant has been funded by the WA government and has been built by a joint venture between Multiplex and French water giant Degremont, which will also operate the plant for the next 25 years.

But the WA government has made it clear the plant will stay in public hands, after Water Corporation chief executive Jim Gill's controversial suggestion last month that water infrastructure could be privatised.

Water Resources Minister John Kobelke told parliament that Mr Gill's comments were wrong and the Water Corporation would not be selling any assets, including the new desalination plant. The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry is in favour of privatising water infrastructure.

Electricity for the Kwinana plant will be produced from Griffin Energy's Emu Downs wind farm near Cervantes, north of Perth. WA Premier Alan Carpenter will open the wind farm on November 10 and is expected to officiate at the opening of the desalination plant soon after.

Mr Kneebone said WA was also seeking $300 million from the federal government to extract 45 billion litres of water annually from the Yaragadee aquifer in the south-west of the state.