Victoria's Desalination Plant: 2011

Introduction

Wonthaggi Desalination Plant

· The Victoria’s desalination Plant is designed to remove soluble salts and minerals from sea and ocean water.

· Intended so it is suitable for drinking, irrigation and industrial uses

· Alternative source in areas that have limited amount of fresh water

· Providing a reliable and safe supply of water to growing communities

Purpose

· Victoria needs a desalination plant because of the population growth, climate change and drought

· The desalination plant is being put in place to guarantee the reliability of our future water supply

· A major benefit of the desalination plant is that it can continue to deliver high quality drinking water, even if we don’t get enough rain

Location

· Victoria’s desalination plant is located just outside the town of Wonthaggi, having Bass Coast as its main location

· Three other locations were also listed: Surf Coast, Port Phillip Bay and Western Port

Location of Desalination Plant

Establishment

Construction at Site

· Construction of the Victoria’s Desalination Plant began on the 6^th of October 2009

· The Victorian Government announced its intention to develop a seawater reverse osmosis on June 19^th 2007

· A great deal of planning was required before they began building

· Expecting to be finished before December 2011.

Organization

· The Victorian government, the department of sustainability and the Environments Capital Project Division made an agreement with the company AquaSure, who is the main organization.

· They agreed to finance, design, build, operate and maintain the Victoria’s desalination plant.

Design

Progress of Victoria's Desalination Plant

· It is based on the concept of a ‘green line’, featuring a modern living roof that has been fully designed to integrate the built form of the landscape and makes the plant barely visible from all public viewing points

· The roof will be completely covered with living indigenous vegetation to camouflage the plant

· Provide acoustic protection, corrosion resistance and thermal control, to reduce maintenance needs.

Size

· Comprise of 29 buildings that would take up 38 hectares of the total 263 hectare on site

· The remainder of the area will be seen as one of the largest single ecological restoration project in Victoria

· It will restore and enhance the natural habitat

· Create a new coastal park for the future generations to enjoy.

Process

· The Victoria’s Desalination Plant uses a process called Reverse Osmosis, which is a filtering process

· From the ocean it passes through two levels of initial filtration to remove most of the large and small particles

· Roughly 40% of the water that goes through the desalination plant comes out as fresh drinking water and the other is pumped back into the ocean

· This water cycle is monitored to make sure that our environment is not harmed in any way

Reverse Osmosis Desalination

Areas affected

· Victoria’s desalination plant will be the largest in Australia

· Capable of supplying approximately one third of Melbourne’s annual water usage from a source that is entirely independent of rainfall

· It will provide up to 150 billion litres of water a year to Melbourne, Geelong, and regional towns in South Gippsland and Western Port

Distribution of Water Supply

Benefits

· As well as being a source of water that isn’t dependent on rainfall, there are other benefits towards the community

· It provides up to 4750 full-time equivalent jobs during construction

· $1 billion economic boost to Victoria during construction

· Fibre optic cable will be installed with the power supply which will provide communication services to local communities

Workers

Energy

· It requires approximately 90MW of electricity to operate, distributing 150GL of water a year

· 100 per cent of this will be produced from renewable energy

· This is equivalent to a standard 4-star fridge, which would use about the same amount of energy as the desalination plant per household every day.

Cost

· The project will cost approximately $3.5 billion dollars

· Operating costs are to be charged by a private firm over a 25–30 year period and are estimated to be around $1.5 billion

· Includes labor, replacement of membranes, chemicals costs and energy

Timeline

· 19 June 2007- The Victorian Government released its Water Plan project

· 30 July 2009- Winning bidder for construction, AquaSure was announced

· 6 October 2009- Construction commenced

· 4 February 2010- First sections of the new pipeline are laid

· December 2011- Production and related operations expected to commence

· 2035-2045- Contract for the operation of the plant expected to expire

Bibliography

Victorian Desalination Project - Frequently Asked Questions (6/05/2011) http://www.aquasure.com.au/cms_files/100824_Victorian%20Desalination%20Project_FAQs.pdf

Community Update – Southern Seawater Desalination Plant (6/05/2011)http://www.watercorporation.com.au/_files/PublicationsRegister/15/PER/Community_Update_What_is_desalination.pdf

Victoria’s Desalination plant begins construction (7/05/2011)http://www.invest.vic.gov.au/061009Victoriasdesalinationplantbeginsconstruction

Victoria’s Desalination Plant – Project Summary (7/05/2011)http://www.partnerships.vic.gov.au/CA25708500035EB6/0/8ACBA1C56F57CF23CA25736E0001DCE8

The Advantages of Desalination (10/05/2011)http://www.ehow.com/list_6105464_advantages-desalination.html

Wonthaggi desalination plant (10/05/2011)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonthaggi_desalination_plant

Desalination plant, Wonthaggi (16/05/2011)
http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=water/desal

Victorian desalination plant - Information about the plant (19/05/2011)http://www.greenlivingpedia.org/Victorian_desalination_plant

Victoria to build desalination plant (19/05/2011)http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Victoria-to-build-desalination-plant/2007/06/19/1182019073256.html

Wonthaggi Desalination Plant – The Facts (20/05/2011)http://www.opinions.com.au/local/wonthaggi-desalination-plant/

Government Programs (23/05/2011)
http://www.water.vic.gov.au/programs/desalination