Home
Search

Water Corporation submits plans for $1 billion desalination plant to fix Perth water supply

Daniel MercerThe West Australian
Inside the desalination plant in Binningup.
Camera IconInside the desalination plant in Binningup. Credit: Nic Ellis

The Water Corporation is planning to spend more than $1 billion to head off Perth’s next water supply crunch by pre-emptively seeking approval to build a giant desalination plant in the city’s north or south.

Despite consecutive years of strong run-off into Perth’s network of dams, the State-owned utility submitted plans for a new desalination plant with State and Federal environmental regulators last week.

In an unusual step, it is believed Water Corp will apply for environmental backing for separate plants at Alkimos in Perth’s north and Kwinana to the city’s south.

Though both plants would have a capacity of up to 50 billion litres a year, Alkimos is expected to come with a higher price tag of about $1.6 billion because of a lack of heavy water infrastructure in the area.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

The Kwinana option, by contrast, is tipped to cost about $1.2 billion given the Water Corp already has a desalination plant nearby and there would be less need for new and upgraded water mains.

The decision is being seen as a hedge against Perth’s drying climate, which has experienced a decline in annual rainfall in the past decade. However, the referral is not expected to immediately hit the State Budget, with a decision on when to build the city’s next major water source not likely for another three years.

Perth’s dams are at 46 per cent capacity — holding 290 billion litres — after almost 160 billion litres of run-off last year swelled levels to their highest in about a decade.

The integrated water supply scheme, which provides drinking supplies to more than two million people in Perth, the Wheatbelt and the Goldfields, uses about 280 billion litres a year.

While Water Corp can provide up to 150 billion litres a year from its existing plants at Kwinana and Binningup, near Bunbury, the utility is facing big cuts to its annual groundwater licence from the Gnangara aquifer system.

The Government-controlled enterprise will need about 50 billion litres of dam in-flow a year to stave off a major new source — a hurdle it has hit only a few times in the past 10 years.

“Water Corporation is planning ahead to secure water supplies and keep pace with climate change and projected growth,” a spokeswoman told The West Australian.

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails