Parker Bohls, Nathan Park & Megan Otsuka
Australia
Desalination plants were promoted in the Victorian Government's "Our Water, Our Future' water plan. Two interesting examples of desalination plants in Australia include the Victorian Desalination Plant and the Adelaide Desalination Plant.
Victorian Desalination Plant.
https://www.thiess.com/generated/images/web-vdpaerial_1280-600.jpg
Adelaide Desalination Plant.
http://desalination.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ADP-at-sunset.jpg
Social Impacts:
The social perception of desalination plants in Australia varies greatly from person to person and place to place. For example, generally those who live very close to desalination plants are against the plants and very vocal about their opnion. Those who live far are not as vocal and not as opinionated about the plants. This phenomena is consistent with the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) theory (Stuart 1989). However, as water prices are threatening to be increased, due to the costs of running the plant, more and more people are beginning to voice their disapproval. The plant, however, is needed to sustain the number of people living in Australia. Without the use of the plants, there would not be enough drinking water for the current population. This begs the question though, is it the social issues that are really the problem, or is it the ecoomic impacts that cause disapproval?
Environmental Impacts:
The large number of plants and the high use of energy each plant uses is of great concern for environmental issues in Australia. Many of Australia's desalination plants, such as the one in Perth, consumes 24 megawatts of electricity per year (Western Australia Water Corporation 2006). On the plus side, many of Australia's desalination plants use this opportunity to use renewable sources of energy, therefore they have a much lower carbon footprint than expected. The plant in Perth takes power from a wind farm, and the plant in Adelaide harvests rainwater for use in the plant, captures storm water and surface water runoff in local wetlands, and encourages local plants and animals to return to the site through revegetation (Adelaide Desalination Plant 2016). However, these efforts to reduce carbon emmissions and energy use come at an economic cost. It is expensive to use these kinds of renewable sources of energy, which adds to the economic impacts.
Economic Impacts:
Multiple stakeholders benefit from desalination, as landowners benefit from the land that has been remediated and residents now have healthy drinking water to drink. At the same time, someone has to pay for these benefits. The polluters, or the companies of these desalination plants, must pay as they are responsible for the land and water that the salty brine is distributed to. (Summary Report 2002). The users of the water will also need to contribute to the cost of the facilities and the costs of the per day operating of the desalination plant. Desalination plants are extremely costly to run for reasons listed above. The plant in Victoria is going to be switched on this summer for the first time because there were water shortages this year. As a result, households in Melbourne, Victoria will most likely face a $12 a year hike in their water bills (ABC News 2016).
ABC News. Victoria to Switch Desalination Plant on next Summer. 2016.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-06/victoria-to-switch-desalination-plant-on/7224276.
Adelaide Desalination Plant. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_Desalination_Plant.
Adelaide Desalination Plant (ADP). 2016. SA Water. South Australian Water Corporation.
Stuart A. Wright, The Not-In-My-Backyard Syndrome: A research proposal for assessing public resistance, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 22, Issue 2, 1989, Page 258, ISSN 0304-3894, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0304-3894(89)85060-5.
Summary Report. Introduction to Desalination Technologies in Australia. 2002. Prepared for Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry - Australia. https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/ef2c1cc7-07d8-4ed8-8f79-816d36fb959e/files/desalination-summary.pdf.
Victorian Desalination Plant. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Desalination_Plant.
Western Australia Water Corporation 2006, ‘Desalinisation’ paper prepared for the 2006 Australian State of the Environment Committee, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra, Australia.
Victorian Desalination Plant:
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Capacity to provide 150 gigaliters of water per year
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33% of the drinking water supply for Melbourne
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Technology: reverse osmosis
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Completed in 2012
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Includes an underground pipeline that connects the plant to the Melbourne network
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The Victorian Desalination Plant has not been used since tests were completed in 2012, due to less water shortages.
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This summer, the Victorian Desalination Plant will be turned on, and may lead to a $12 rise in household water bills due to the high economic costs of running the plant.
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In addition to the plant being turned on, reactivation of the Target 155 campaign has begun. This campaign is a government initiative encouraging households to limit their water use to 155 liters per day, about 6 liters less than the Victorian household average.
Adelaide Desalination Plant
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Capacity to provide 100 gigaliters of water per year
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50% of the drinking water supply for Adelaide
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Technology: reverse osmosis
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Completed in 2012
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The output of the plant can be between 10% to 100% depending on customer demand, drought, rainfall, and times of emergency
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Drought conditions in 2006-2012 prompted the building of this desalination plant as the River Murray could no longer provide enough water for South Australia.
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The Adelaide Desalination Plant has a small carbon footprint because it uses energy from renewable sources, harvests rainwater for use in the plant, captures storm water and surface water runoff in local wetlands, and encourages local plants and animals to return to the site through revegetation.