Infrastructure planned to secure water supplies

The executive director of the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA), Ross Young, said in 2008 there was a record $2 billion in capital works underway in Australia’s capital cities, double the previous peak and this expenditure was driven by climate change.

“Expenditure has grown dramatically over the last two years and is predicted to stay at this level until the major new sources of water projects are completed”, Mr Young said.

Mr Young was speaking at the launch of The WSAA Report Card 2007/2008 which identifies issues and responses in the past financial year and highlights upcoming challenges.

The Report Card, Performance of the Australian Urban Water Industry and Projections for the Future was launched in September by Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water.

Mr Young said climate change, population growth and the need to develop sustainable solutions to urban water challenges were the most important drivers of activity.

Mr Young said that in an effort to diversify sources of water so our cities are not totally dependent on dams, recycled water was now becoming an increasingly important source of water.

“The significant investment in recycled water projects has resulted in another large rise in the volume of recycled water supplied for a variety of uses.

“During 2006/07, 165 gigalitres of recycled water was supplied by Australia’s major urban water utilities. This represents an increase of 117% since 1999/2000,” Mr Young said.

Mr Young said 165 gigalitres represents a greater volume than all the water supplied to households in Brisbane and Adelaide combined in 2006/07.

He noted that urban water was an asset-intensive industry managing $86 billion of assets to deliver water services to 16 million Australians.

“Many of these assets are more than 50 years old and require ongoing maintenance and timely replacement,” he said.

“Over the five years to 2013, the urban water utilities will invest around $5 billion in replacing old and poorly performing assets and around $2.7 billion in maintaining current assets. This equates to an investment of around $350 per person for asset renewal and $170 per person for asset maintenance,” he said.

Looking forward, the WSAA Report Card identifies issues for the future.

“It is a dynamic time with many different challenges confronting the industry. These include operating in a carbon trading environment, managing ageing infrastructure, opening up to competition, reducing reliance on water restrictions, declining wastewater flows and understanding the sustainability of water and wastewater systems just to mention a few,” Mr Young said.

Key water resource projects either underway or proposed

Sydney

• A desalination plant is being built at Kurnell which will have an initial capacity of 90 GL per annum and could be scaled to double the capacity if required. The plant is scheduled for completion in 2009/2010.
• The Rosehill/Camelia Project will initially deliver 4.3 GL of recycled water to industrial and commercial customers. A consortium to design, build and operate the project has been appointed and the project is expected to begin in late 2008 and will be operational by 2011.
• The construction of the Replacement Flows Project has commenced and will deliver recycled water for residential, irrigation customers and environmental flows by 2010.
• Increasing capacity of Rouse Hill Recycled Water Plant will expand what already is the world’s largest third pipe residential system. The project will double the recycled water capacity for this rapidly growing area.

Melbourne

The Victorian government has announced $4.9 billion of projects to secure Melbourne and Victoria’s water supplies for the long term. These include:

• Construction of a 150 GL per annum desalination plant at Wonthaggi to provide water for Melbourne, Geelong, Western Port and Wonthaggi.
• Construction of a pipeline linking the Goulburn Valley to Melbourne to deliver an additional 75 GL to Melbourne. The pipeline is part of the Food Bowl Modernisation Project which will achieve water savings by piping leaking irrigation systems and will share the water saved between irrigators, the environment and Melbourne.
• Upgrading the Eastern Treatment Plant to produce recycled water.
• Werribee West recycled water main.
• Additional treatment and distribution of recycled water for rural irrigation and potable substitution.

South East Queensland

• Around 85% of the $19 billion South East Queensland Water Corridor has been completed with 340 km of pipeline constructed and another 60 km expected to be constructed by the end of 2008.
•  A desalination plant with a capacity of 45 GL per annum is being built at Tugun on the Gold Coast and is due for commissioning by November 2008; it will be in full production by January 2009.
•  The Western Corridor Recycled Water scheme, which involves construction of three advanced water reclamation plants and a pipeline from Luggage Point to Wivenhoe dam, is due to be completed in November 2008. It is anticipated that 85 GL per annum of recycled water will be delivered through this system. Already, 41 ML/day is being pumped to Swanbank and Tarong North Power Stations.

Adelaide

•  A pilot plant has been constructed and expressions of interest have been called for a desalination plant at Port Stanvac with a capacity of 50 GL per annum to be completed by 2011.
•  Associated with the desalination plant is a major pipeline to link the water supply systems in the northern and southern suburbs to ensure all parts of Adelaide benefit from the plant.
• Construction commenced in July 2008 on an extension of the Angle Vale Reuse Scheme which will make an additional 3 GL of recycled water available to customers in that area during 2009.
• Work has commenced on a scheme to bring recycled water from the Glenelg Wastewater Treatment Plant to the Adelaide Parklands. Due to be completed by mid 2010, this will make up to 5.5 GL available for irrigating Adelaide’s parklands and for customers in the CBD and along the pipeline route.
• The feasibility of additional storage capacity of up to 200 GL in dams in the Mount Lofty Ranges is being investigated.
• Waterproofing the southern area is an overall strategy comprising 11 individual projects that seek to use a total of 23 GL per annum of stormwater and recycled wastewater in the City of Onkaparinga region. Proposed water sources are the Wastewater Treatment Plants at Christies Beach and Aldinga, various septic tank effluent disposal schemes and stormwater from local rivers and creeks. The main objectives are to provide urban re-use (mains substitution), expand the Willunga Basin Water Company (WBWC) scheme and to provide environmental flows in the Onkaparinga River. Project partners include SA Water, City of Onkaparinga and WBWC.
• Planning has been undertaken in relation to a temporary weir on the River Murray at Wellington that will be constructed by mid 2009 if necessary to secure Adelaide’s water supply.

Perth

• The Southern Seawater Desalination Plant, which will be constructed at Binninyup, south of Perth, will produce around 50 GL of dinking water per annum with the potential to produce 100 GL per annum. Construction of the desalination plant will commence in 2009 with the plant expected to be operating in 2011.
• At the Beenyup wastewater treatment plant the Water Corporation is trialling the feasibility of treating wastewater to a high standard using reverse osmosis and pumping the treated water into slow-moving groundwater. This groundwater will subsequently be further treated and provided to customers subject to technical feasibility and community acceptance. The source has the potential to provide 25 to 35 GL per annum by 2015.
• Investigations are underway to determine the feasibility of expanding the capacity of the Kwinana Recycled Water Scheme from the current 6 to 10 GL.

Canberra

Planning and design works were undertaken on the following projects to secure water supplies for the ACT:

• The Cotter Dam will be enlarged by building an enlarged dam wall downstream of the existing one. This will achieve a 20-fold increase in the Cotter Dam’s capacity from the current 4 to around 78 GL.
• The Murrumbidgee to Googong Water Transfer Project involves pumping water from the Murrumbidgee River near Angle Crossing and transferring it through a pipeline running via the Burra district to Googong Reservoir. The project will make better use of the ACT’s water storage capacity in Googong Reservoir by supplementing water supplies in times of good Murrumbidgee River flows. It will provide up to 20 GL of additional water per year into Googong Reservoir, which is nearly a third of the ACT’s average annual water use.
• The Tantangara Transfer option is being investigated to determine the feasibility of transferring water from the Snowy Mountains Scheme, most likely via the Tantangara Reservoir in NSW, to the ACT. This would involve buying NSW water entitlements (volumes) from the Murrumbidgee/Murray, converting the water purchases to ACT entitlements, agreeing on commercial arrangements with the Snowy Hydro, storing the water entitlements in the Tantangara Reservoir, and transferring the water to the ACT. The Tantangara Transfer will help to combat the drastic effects of climate change on the ACT water supply by providing access to a source of water less dependent on the ACT local rainfall.
• ACTEW Corporation is designing a demonstration water purification plant to demonstrate advanced water treatment technology. ACTEW will apply the highest possible level of scrutiny and planning before it proceeds with the operation of this option. The design of the demonstration water purification plant will be completed by the end of 2008, and the ACT government will then decide whether or not there is a need to build the plant, which would be based at the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre, southwest of Belconnen.