Desal plant key to $5bn water scheme

Australian
Tuesday 19/6/2007 Page: 4

DESALINATED seawater from Gippsland and irrigation water from north of the divide will be pumped to Melbourne through a massive network of new pipes under a $5 billion blueprint to solve Melbourne's water crisis. A large pipe will also be built linking Melbourne's and Geelong's water supplies so the state's second-largest city, which is labouring under strict water restrictions, can share the extra water.

State cabinet yesterday signed off on a desalination plant costing between $2 billion and $3 billion to be built near Wonthaggi, southeast of Melbourne. It is the centrepiece of a scheme to boost the city's water supply by more than a third. The project will also include the controversial $1.5 billion north-south pipeline giving Melbourne access to water from Eildon Dam despite objections from some irrigators and a lack of support from the federal Government. The package, which could be announced today, will be funded by increasing water prices and dipping into state government coffers. It is believed the Government will consider building parts of the project as public-private partnerships.

The cabinet yesterday chose Wonthaggi over a proposed site at Black Rock on the Surf Coast west of Geelong for the desalination plant. Sources told The Australian that despite the Gippsland site's proximity to Phillip Island and its famous penguin colony, it was the better choice, politically and practically. The Wonthaggi site has good access to the high-voltage power grid and there is a wind farm nearby to supply the green energy that will largely power the plant. The salty brine would be piped into the open ocean and the water piped back to Melbourne through storage basins in Gippsland.

Wonthaggi is in state and federal seats that are Liberal held. Locating the plant on the Surf Coast would put it in a state seat held by Labor and a federal seat the ALP has a chance of winning.

The Mayor of the Wonthaggi based Bass Coast Shire, Neville Goodwin, said local people might support the desalination plant if it helped boost depleted local reservoirs. Reservoirs in the region have fallen as low as 5 per cent and most of the towns are on the tightest water restrictions, while some have had to truck water in.

"I think if it gave us surety about our water supply then I think people would probably embrace it," Mr Goodwin said. But we need to know about the ramifications because we haven't been told anything about it." The plant would require a site of about 20 to 30 hectares and is likely to be built with a capacity to supply at least 100 gigalitres a year about a quarter of Melbourne's yearly needs.

Wonthaggi is home to a 12MW six-turbine wind farm run by Wind Power, which is also developing the nearby 104MW Bald Hills wind farm. The Bald Hills wind farm was delayed for years by spurious threats to the endangered orange-bellied parrot. The desalination plant could face a similar battle given that it will be discharging brine into waters that are home to seals and penguins.