Worth Their Salt

Desalination Plants Are Popping Up All Over The World, And Aussies Are Experts At Building Them.

- Damien Martin

The Sydney Opera House is no doubt the most famous building in Australia, but there’s a different type of construction on the country’s coastlines that might draw more attention over the course of the 21st century. As the Millennium Drought in Australia and more recent countdown to Day Zero in Cape Town have made crystal clear, water security will be of paramount importance in the coming years. Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide are ranked among the world’s most livable cities, and water security will go a long way to retaining those distinctions. As climate change continues to affect rainfall patterns throughout Australia and fresh water becomes harder to come by around the world, Australian expertise at building desalination plants will be a valuable skill.

HOW IT WORKS

Australia is home to six large-scale desalination plants completed between 2006 and 2012, ranging from a capacity of 125 megalitres per day at the Gold Coast Desalination Plant to 410 at the Victorian Desalination Plant, and more than a dozen smaller plants. At peak production, the Adelaide Desalination Plant could supply half of Adelaide’s water needs and the Victorian plant could provide a third of Melbourne’s. Combined, the Perth and Southern Seawater plants could produce about half of Perth’s water supply, whilst the Sydney plant could supply 15 per cent of that city’s water needs.