WA drinks desalinated water

AAP Newswire
Sunday 19/11/2006

PERTH, Nov 19 AAP - Perth residents today began drinking water from the Indian Ocean with the opening of Australia's first major desalination plant.

Water from the $387 million seawater desalination facility at Kwinana, south of the city, began pumping through Perth's supply system, Premier Alan Carpenter said. It will supply 17 per cent of the city's water when it ramps up to full capacity in two months time, he said.

"Western Australia has become the first state in Australia to use desalination as a major public water source," Mr Carpenter said.

By harnessing water from the ocean, we have acquired an abundant source that is not dependent on rainfall." The plant, built as part of a joint venture between Multiplex Group and French-based water treatment specialist, Degremont, is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and the third largest of its kind in the world.

It is powered by electricity generated by the Emu Downs Wind Farm near Cervantes on the western WA coast. The plant will produce 45 gigalitres of water per year or 130 million litres per day, making it the largest single water source feeding into Perth's Integrated Water Supply Scheme.