DesalData Weekly - October 7th, 2015

Posted 07 October, 2015 by Mandy

In Australia, officials are developing a water plan that will possibly restart Victoria’s $4 billion seawater desalination plant.[1]  Located on the continent’s southeastern coast, Victoria’s mainland (230,000 square kilometres) is defined by rugged coastline and vast expanses of ancient and protected forests.  A lack of rainfall since July 2014 has brought the ravages of drought to the terrain, parching vast expanses of land (in the north and the west) and diminishing water storage levels.  Parts of western and south-eastern South Australia have received the lowest rainfall on record; and by December, several rivers in Victoria will stop flowing altogether.

South Gippsland Hills, Victoria / Credit: Ian Rolfe Photography [2]

[1][2]Victoria’s desalination plant was commissioned in 2007 during the millennium drought and completed in 2012—but it was immediately put on standby when the drought broke.[3]  The Environment and Water Minister, Lisa Neville, has confirmed that the government may restart the desalination plant to optimise Victoria’s water grid.   The plant is capable of producing 150 million cubic metres of water a year and has the capability to expand to 200 million cubic metres a year – enough to fill 178 Olympic sized swimming pools each day.[4]

In Taiwan, plans are being finalized to construct the island nation’s largest desalination plant.[5]  The Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) has revealed it is in the process of selecting from major international equipment suppliers for its plant in Mailiao, in Yunlin County, in the northwest. The company reports that the plant will produce 100,000 m³/d of fresh water each day—far exceeding the nation’s existing seawater desalination capacity. The China Post reports that after FPG selects equipment suppliers, it will “research and devise pollution reduction strategies” for the plant.[6] Chu Yu-Chi, Head of Department of Comprehensive Planning at the Environmental Protection Agency, states that the government might develop guidelines to regulate or examine Taiwan’s desalination plants.  No such rules or guidelines are currently in place, although the upcoming Mailiao plant will be examined by representatives from several agencies, including the Water Resources Agency and the EPA’s Department of Water Quality Protection.[7]

In California, officials have selected IDE Americas to refurbish and operate Santa Barbara’s recommissioned Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant.[8]  The Santa Barbara plant is schedule to be in operation by October 2016.  It will produce 10,550 cubic metres of water per day, and has the capacity to expand to 25,330 cubic metres a day.  Nearby, in Chula Vista, the Sweetwater Authority’s desalination plant is undergoing an expansion that will increase its capacity from nearly 19,000 cubic metres of water a day to roughly 38,000 cubic metres a day.[9]  The project will be completed in late spring 2017, when it will provide 30 percent of the Sweetwater District’s water supply.[10]

Meanwhile, as the California drought spurs further expansion of the state’s desalination market, the first 5 days of October saw torrential rain flood the central and coastal regions of South Carolina.  The Washington Post reports that the water volume of 21.6 billion cubic metres—if spread across the entire state’s 83,000 km²—would cover every inch of the state with 10.4 inches of water.[11]  Combining the rainfall in the state with its northern counterpart, North Carolina, brings the total water volume to 41.64 billion cubic metres.  Interestingly, this deluge of the Carolinas would have ended California’s drought.[12]

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