Desalination: not the best option to address our water woes
As governments around Australia look at ways to secure our water supplies, the Democrats say we should look at the less costly and more environmentally-friendly options first before rushing to build desalination plants.
The desalination plant proposed for Wonthaggi in Victoria is the most expensive option to address the state's water shortage. It is also environmentally destructive. Yet the Brumby Government continue to sell it as a 'silver bullet'.
The environmental impacts are severe. Several truckloads of larvae, fish eggs, phytoplankton and other small organisms will go to landfill every day from the plant filters. This loss could have catastrophic effects, depleting marine life equivalent to thousands of acres of coastal habitat. Further, the discharge of super saline water into water depths of some 20m limits its dispersal and risks stagnation.
Desalination plants also contribute to worsening climate change. The Wonthaggi desalination plant will need around 750 GWh to make 150 billion litres of water a year. That is an extra 2 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from our brown coal power stations - at a time when we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions urgently!
Common sense dictates that all lower cost options should be implemented first. This means ranking all water actions by cost, executing equally the cheapest supply options and demand options until balance is reached.
| Demand options include: |
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pressure and leakage reduction; |
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retrofitting dual flush toilets, efficient showers and rainwater tanks; |
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a business water efficiency program; |
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demand targeting; |
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building regulations and planning regulations; |
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water harvesting; third pipe grey water systems; |
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behavioural changes - taking shorter showers, washing only full loads of clothes; |
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promoting water efficient appliances; |
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and an outdoor and garden program. |
The Democrats have recently made a submission to Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, arguing that the Wonthaggi desalination proposal should be the subject of an Environment Impact Study.
Read our submission [77kb pdf]
In 2007 the WWF released a detailed report into desalination titled Desalination:
option or distraction
for a thirsty world?
Read the report on the WWF website |
