Victoria's Desalination Plant

Introduction

Wonthaggi Desalination Plant

The Victoria’s desalination Plant (Wonthaggi desalination plant) is designed to remove soluble salts and minerals from sea and ocean water. This removal of salt was intended so it is suitable for drinking, irrigation and industrial uses. It is an alternative source in areas that have limited amount of fresh water, providing a reliable and safe supply of water to growing communities.

Purpose

As outlined before, Victoria needs a desalination plant because of the population growth, climate change and drought from recent years. This means that it is vital for Victoria to plan carefully and manage its future water requirements. The desalination plant is just a type of measure that is being put in place to guarantee the reliability of our future water supply. One of the major benefits 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. It is being constructed in Wonthaggi because the area is ready to access high water quality activity from ocean waters and seawater. This supplies rapid dispersal that concentrates suitable links into Melbourne’s existing water supply.

Location of Desalination Plant

Establishment

Construction at Site

Construction of the Victoria’s Desalination Plant began on the 6^th of October 2009. This two year construction period was estimated to having 4,745 full-time equivalent jobs. Even though it started in late 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. AquaSure brings together leaders in the fields of infrastructure design and construction finance. The company AquaSure has committed to complete and deliver the desalination plant by the end of this year.

Design

Progress of Victoria's Desalination Plant

AquaSure and its contractors have brought together terrific architectures and environmentalists within a landscape and world-class technology to create one of the most significant and large scale environmental designs in Australia. 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. A prototype roof has been growing successfully in Gippsland since February 2009, using many regional and indigenous plants. The excavated soil will be kept to construct dunes that will incorporate the plant with the landscape and minimize visual and noise impacts for the neighboring areas.

Size

Victoria's Desalination Plant

The desalination will comprise of 29 buildings that would take up 38 hectares of the total 263 hectare on site. It will be set at minimal ground level which would enable it to be integrated into the landscape and reduce the amount of energy needed to lift seawater to the plant. The highest point of the main buildings is 20 meters above the sea level, but this will barely be visible from the surrounding areas. 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, creating a new coastal park for the future generations to enjoy.

Process

Desalination is the removal of the salt and impurities from seawater so it can produce fresh drinking water. It happens naturally every day by the water cycle that evaporates from the sea leaving the salt behind. The fresh water vaporizes to form clouds, it then falls as rain. The Victoria’s Desalination Plant uses a process called Reverse Osmosis, which is a filtering process. The way this process works is when the seawater is pumped into the desalination plant. From the ocean it passes through two levels of initial filtration to remove most of the large and small particles. The filtered seawater then enters into the osmosis plant. So roughly around 40% the water that goes through the desalination plant comes out as fresh drinking water. The other 60% that’s left would be 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. The project includes an 84km underground pipeline to connect the plant to a transfer main at Berwick and then to Cardinia Reservoir.

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 and a $1 billion economic boost to Victoria during construction. The pipeline is two-way, which means local water authorities also have access to Melbourne water storages. Fibre optic cable will be installed with the power supply which will provide communication services to local communities. About 4 million native plants and 150,000 trees will be planted to recreate the coastal environment. New dunes will be created and wetlands, woodlands and coastal heath will be established to provide habitat for native animals. Recreation paths will also be created for people to use.

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. Additional energy will be required to pump the desalinated water from Wonthaggi to Cardinia Reservoir in Melbourne.

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. This includes labor, replacement of membranes, chemicals costs and energy. This amount is comparable to that of the Sydney desalination plant, and less than that of the Brisbane and Adelaide plants. The Victorian Desalination Plant also has a greater investment in architecture and landscaping than any other Australian desalination plant. The State Government was willing to fund a $1.7 billion dollars as a last resort to the project. AquaSure is also seeking long-term investors for the project.

Timeline

· 19 June 2007- The Victorian Government released its Water Plan project to secure Victoria’s water future.

· September 2007- Premier John Brumby and the Water Minister Tim Holding announced that the Victorian Desalination Project would be delivered as a Public Private Partnership. The PPP process enables the government to resource the expertise in designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining the project.

· December 2007- the Minister for Planning had decided an Environment Effects Statement that was needed for the project. This was a 12-month public process.

· 4 June 2008- the Victorian Government called for Expressions of Interest.

· 30 September 2008- AquaSure and Basswater short-listed two bidders, to tender.

· October 2008- the tender documents were released.

· March 2009- the Federal Minister for the Environment approved the Arts and Heritage project and issued a Works Approval.

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

· 28 September 2009- Thiess Degrémont committed earthworks on site.

· 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