Australia readies $1.2B desal plant

Australia’s Gold Coast desalination plant is nearing completion for its expected operation in November to produce 125 megaliters (33 million U.S. gallons) of water per day.

Government officials said the plant is 90-percent complete and is expected to start delivering desalinated water this November for 700,000 people. The $1.2 billion AUD ($975 million USD) plant is based upon reverse-osmosis technology, which is also used in facilities such as the Ashkelon Desalination Plant in Israel (see IDE Technologies to build desal plant in Australia).

The treated water from the plant will be so pure that minerals, salts and other elements will have to be added back into the water to make it consistent with local dam water consumed by the residents, said the government.

The Gold Coast plant was approved for construction two years ago and is the first large scale water desalination plant on Australia’s Gold Coast. Plans for the desalination facility are much needed in the region, which has experienced its worst drought in recorded history, according to government officials.

Water storage levels have been at record lows. What’s more, significant population growth in the area also contributed to the government’s decision to build the desal plant (see Adelaide to get desalination plant).

With the half-million-dollar five-meter cage in place, water will flow into it at lower velocities than existing tidal currents, which the builders say will minimize disruption to the surrounding marine life.

An intake and outlet tunnel about 70 meters (230 feet) below the ocean’s surface will connect the desalination plant to the seawater supply and extend to some 1.5 kilometers offshore at Tugun.

The plant has come under scrutiny by local residents. Several hundred Gold Coast residents in May marched on the State Parliament over the plans to build large, 25-meter power poles to supply electricity to the new desalination plant. They cited concerns about the impact on health, property values and the local landscape.

A $300 million USD reverse-osmosis desalination plant in Carlsbad, Calif., recently received approval to start construction in 2009 after nearly 10 years in the planning and permitting process (see Largest desalination plant in Western world gets go-ahead).

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