Zoe Kenny, Sydney
The day after a special sub-committee meeting of the NSW cabinet on February 7, ALP Premier Morris Iemma released the 2006 Progress Report on the Metropolitan Water Plan, which contained the announcement to "shelve" the plan to build the controversial desalination plant in the southern Sydney suburb of Kurnell.
The prompt for this was, ostensibly, the discovery of groundwater supplies under the Nepean River and the Southern Highlands. These are estimated to be able to provide Sydney with an extra 30 billion litres of drinkable water each year, roughly the same quantity as the proposed desalination plant, for the next three or four years.
Anne Davies in the February 9 Sydney Morning Herald claims that one of the "new" aquifers has been known about since 1994. The Liberal opposition also made available a 2003 report from the department of land and water conservation that showed that there are vast amounts of groundwater underneath the Southern Highlands.
However, extracting water from these sources is not without its problems. Environmentalists warn that draining groundwater can severely harm the environment, causing land salination, draining wetlands, disrupting rivers and causing acid levels to rise.
Other water measures announced include a new $300 million water recycling plant that would recycle 27 billion litres a year, with a view to building more plants to eventually recycle 70 billion litres per year by 2015; accessing the deep water from Sydney's main dams providing a further 40 billion litres per year; and continuing with and increasing water efficiency measures that will save 145 billion litres per year by 2015.
The government's decision to shelve the desalination plant is a partial victory for environmentalists and residents who waged a concerted campaign against the plant's negative environmental impact, high CO2 emissions and exorbitant cost. It seems that the beleaguered Iemma government decided it was too politically costly to continue with the controversial project, at least in the lead-up to the state elections in March 2007.
According to the January 16 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Water warned the NSW government two years ago that the $1.3-billion desalination plant would not be financially or environmentally feasible. Greg Robinson, the then head of the department, wrote to then utilities minister Frank Sartor in December 2003 advising that there were cheaper and more efficient options and warning about a significant rise in water rates. Even the government's own Drought Expert Panel had rejected the desalination option. A Newspoll survey in December 2005 showed more than 70% of Sydney residents opposed the plant.
Another pressure was the possible $30 million compensation payout to Australian Water Services (AWS), which was contracted in 1993 to provide 85% of drinking water to Sydney for 20 years. The construction of a desalination plant, with a different company, would have been a breach of the AWS contract.
NSW Greens MP Sylvia Hale, who welcomed the new water recycling and water efficiency measures, said on February 8 that harvesting rain water and recycling are the "only environmentally acceptable solutions to Sydney's long-term water security problem". She called on the government to redirect the millions of dollars to "double its rainwater tank rebate from a maximum of $500 to $1000 and subsidise up to 1 million households and commercial premises across Sydney". She also urged it to undertake a serious study of the infrastructure necessary for large-scale recycling.
While the headlines imply the desalination project has been dropped, the Iemma government is nevertheless proceeding with plans for such a plant for emergencies. For instance, it is still purchasing the original site in Kurnell, building a pilot plant, buying a plant blueprint, as well as paying $10 million compensation to the consortiums tendering for the contract. All this will cost taxpayers $120 million.
The construction of a desalination plant able to produce 125 million litres of water per day will be triggered by dam levels dipping below 30% (they are currently 45%, but last August had dropped to 35%). It will apparently be able to be built within 26 months.
In the water progress report, Iemma stated that "having the capacity to construct and operate a desalination plant is an essential part of securing Sydney's water supply". It's clear that the campaign for sustainable water security needs to continue.
From Green Left Weekly, February 15, 2006.
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