USA – Local leaders and port officials in Corpus Christi, Texas are looking to expand their water supply through desalination to support the city’s growing industrial sector. For some time now, officials have endeavored to utilize the plentiful saltwater on their shores for both industrial and residential use.^[1] The Texas Water Development board has already granted the city $2.75 million in credit to put towards desalination projects, and officials are now considering their options.^[2]

One option under consideration is for the Port of Corpus Christi to purchase a partially constructed desalination plant owned from M&G Chemicals, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2017.^[3] After commissioning, the Port would then sell the plant to the City of Corpus Christi. The plant, which is currently 95% complete, has a capacity of 34,000 cubic metres per day, but could be expanded to 87,000 cubic metres per day.^[4] Another option is for the city to build two new desalination plants with a combined capacity of 90,000 cubic metres per day at a cost of approximately $300 million. The city has until the beginning of March to decide whether to continue with work on a new plant.^[5] 

SOUTH AFRICA – Day Zero—the day that the water will be shut off in Cape Town—is set to arrive in early-mid April. Water will cease to be piped to homes and businesses, and the City will establish 200 collection points where Cape Towns’s four million residents will be able to collect a daily ration of water.^[6] This will make Cape Town one of the first major cities in the world to lose piped water for residential and most commercial purposes.^[7] Construction on multiple desalination plants in the city is underway, but much of this is behind schedule.

^{A carwash in Delft, in the vicinity of Cape Town, was fined roughly $250 for violating water use regulations   Credit: New York Times}

The owners of Cape Town’s Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront,—Listed Growthpoint and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC)—are also planning to complete a new desalination plant by next year for the Cape Town precinct. David Green, the chief executive of the V&A Waterfront, confirmed that the desalination plant will produce between 3,500 and 5,000 cubic meters of water per day and cost an estimated $16.686 million dollars. Green further stated that this desalination plant would be independent and separate from the temporary desalination plant that is already being built by the City of Cape Town at the Waterfront.^[8]

The government of South Africa has claimed that the threat to public and social order will pose a greater challenge than anything the city has faced since World War II, and plans to deploy the army in addition to regular policing.^[9]

AUSTRALIA – The developers responsible for the Victoria Desalination Plant – Suez and Thiess – have filed a writ against Siemens in the Victorian Supreme Court over the failure of a gas-insulated switchgear substation at the facility.^[10] Suez and Thiess claim that they have suffered considerable costs repairing the plant and arranging an alternative power source for the property.^[11]

 AquaSure, the joint venture of Suez and Thiess that operates the plant, was contracted to deliver 50 million cubic meters of desalinated water by June 2017. However, the plant’s output has fallen short of this quantity by four million cubic meters, resulting in significant financial losses.^[12] Suez and Thiess claim that Siemens is liable for all losses, damages, costs and expenses arising from the incident.^[13]