BHP roll out desalination plans

Whyalla News
Monday 26/3/2007 Page: 3

BHP Billiton rolled out its plans for the Olympic Dam Expansion and a desalination plant at Point Lowly to residents at the Left Hand Club on Tuesday night. The plans were presented with an emphasis that it was a proposal and not a formal project.

But the need for a supply of fresh water for the expansion, the advanced nature of the plans and the imminent start up of a pilot plant run by Veolia, left little doubt that the project was full steam ahead. The expansion of Olympic Dam is dependent on a reliable supply of fresh water that is sustainable for the next 40 years. With the River Murray in trouble and the water in the Artesian Basin dropping, desalination seems the only viable alternative.

Point Lowly offers a number of unique features for a desalination plant, such as its proximity to Roxby Downs and a deep channel with good currents in the gulf to disperse the salty return water. The plan is to site the desalination plant opposite Santos at Point Lowly. Seawater would be gently drawn in from False Bay to minimise marine lire intake, filtered and put through a reverse-osmosis plant to create fresh water.

This water would be mineralised to make it useable and pumped north to Roxby Downs. For every three litres of water drawn in at False Bay (feedwater), one litre would be made into fresh water and the remaining saltier two litres (concentrate) would be oxygenated by passing it over waterfalls and discharged into the deep channel east of Point Lowly lighthouse.

If the plant works as projected, the oxygen rich concentrate should be rapidly dispersed in the deep channel reaching a concentration within 10 per cent of seawater 100 metres from the outlet, ensuring minimal impact on marine life. However, to be on the safe side, BHP Billiton is testing the effects of saltier water on various fish found in the gulf such as giant cuttlefish, Tiger and Western King Prawns, sardines, Yellow Tail Kingfish, sea urchin and Pacific oysters.

BHP Billiton also indicated that it intends to buy green energy from renewable sources such as solar or wind power to run the plant, thus reducing the carbon output into the atmosphere and minimising the global warming effects of this plant using renewable energy, this plant looks like a real environmental winner. It has a small environmental footprint and has the potential to reverse some of the environmental damage done by overuse of water in the past.

For Whyalla, this plant means a few more jobs but no water from the BHP Billiton side of the desalination plant. However, it was pointed out that, if SAWater were to join BHP Billiton and build a much larger desalination plant, then all of the water needs for Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie could be supplied from this plant and water could be pumped in the reverse direction in the pipeline.

Using desalinated water in Whyalla is going to cost more but most people now realise that our ability to rely on the Murray River for cheap reliable water is far from certain and may be drawing to a close. This is an opportunity that our region should not let pass by and deserves community support. A reliable Water supply is the key to our future.