Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

is the driest habitable continent on Earth and its installed

desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...

capacity has been increasing. Until a few decades ago, Australia met its demands for water by drawing freshwater from

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

s and

water catchments A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

. As a result of the water supply crisis during the severe 1997–2009 drought, state governments began building

desalination plants Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Saltwa ...

that purify seawater using

reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pre ...

technology. Approximately one percent of the world's drinkable water originates from desalination plants. The first modern large-scale desalination plant was the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant, completed in November 2006 and over 30 plants are currently operating across the country. Many plants are utilizing nearby

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

wave farm Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC). Waves are generated by wind ...

s to use renewable energy and reduce operating costs, and solar powered desalination units are used for remote communities.

Background

Until a few decades ago, Australia met its demands for water by drawing freshwater from

s and

. However, during 2000-2010 a significant lack of rainfall drained

water reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

s.El Saliby, I., Y. Okour, et al. (2009). "Desalination plants in Australia, review and facts." Desalination 247(1-3): 1–14. The most affected cities were the capitals, where there is high uncertainty in water supply and demand. In 2007,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, the capital city of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, experienced a dramatic drop of its main dam

Warragamba Warragamba is a town in New South Wales, Australia, in Wollondilly Shire. Located on the eastern edge of the Blue Mountains, Warragamba is one and a half hour's drive west of Sydney. The name Warragamba comes from the aboriginal words ''Warra' ...

, where water levels dropped to 33% of normal. Australia’s first desalination plant was constructed in 1903 to treat saline groundwater in the gold fields of Western Australia at

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

.Heath, J. "The Water Supply in Hearth Australia." July 2007 Web. 28 April 2010 Several desalination plants were built in Australia between 1960 and 1980, especially following the revolution in membrane technology that made

economically viable, but

vapor-compression desalination Vapor-compression desalination (VC) refers to a distillation process where the evaporation of sea water, sea or saline water is obtained by the application of heat delivered by compressed vapor. Overview Since compression of the vapor increases b ...

and

multi-stage flash distillation Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) is a water desalination process that distills sea water by flashing a portion of the water into steam in multiple stages of what are essentially countercurrent heat exchangers. Current MSF facilities may hav ...

plants were also built. By 2002, however, only two reverse osmosis desalination plants were still operating, one on

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

and the other on

Rottnest Island Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...

. Seawater reverse osmosis is the only type of desalination technology currently used for large-scale desalination plants in Australia, the most important of these plants being located in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and

Methods

Compared to existing sources, desalination is considered to be expensive, but research is underway to develop more effective desalination technology. Despite its drawbacks, it is considered a possible solution to the country's water shortages. Australia is the driest inhabitable continent on earth and its installed desalination capacity is around 1% of the total world’s desalination capacity. The

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry may refer to: * Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia) ** Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Queensland) The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is a de ...

has considered several desalination technologies processes in Australia: *

Reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pre ...

Electrodialysis Electrodialysis (ED) is used to transport salt ions from one solution through ion-exchange membranes to another solution under the influence of an applied electric potential difference. This is done in a configuration called an electrodialysis c ...

Multi-stage flash distillation Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) is a water desalination process that distills sea water by flashing a portion of the water into steam in multiple stages of what are essentially countercurrent heat exchangers. Current MSF facilities may hav ...

Multiple-effect distillation Multiple-effect distillation or multi-effect distillation (MED) is a distillation process often used for sea water desalination. It consists of multiple stages or "effects". In each stage the feed water is heated by steam in tubes, usually by spr ...

Vapor-compression desalination Vapor-compression desalination (VC) refers to a distillation process where the evaporation of sea water, sea or saline water is obtained by the application of heat delivered by compressed vapor. Overview Since compression of the vapor increases b ...

Solar humidification The solar humidification–dehumidification method (HDH) is a thermal water desalination method. It is based on evaporation of sea water or brackish water and subsequent condensation of the generated humid air, mostly at ambient pressure. This ...

Membrane Distillation Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermally driven separation process in which separation is driven by phase change. A hydrophobic membrane presents a barrier for the liquid phase, allowing the vapour phase (e.g. water vapour) to pass through the m ...

ROSI

A solar powered desalination unit designed for remote communities has been tested in the Northern Territory. The

solar installation (ROSI) uses membrane filtration to provide a reliable and clean drinking water stream from sources such as brackish groundwater. Solar energy overcomes the usually high-energy operating costs as well as

greenhouse emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and la ...

of conventional reverse osmosis systems. A photovoltaic solar array tracks the Sun and powers the pumps needed to process the water, using the plentiful sunlight available in remote regions of Australia not served by the power grid.

Desalination plants

In Australia many desalination plants are utilizing wind farms to produce enough energy to operate nearby desalination plants. For example, the

Kurnell Desalination Plant The Sydney Desalination Plant also known as the Kurnell Desalination Plant is a potable drinking water desalination plant that forms part of the water supply system of Greater Metropolitan Sydney. The plant is located in the Kurnell industri ...

, with a capacity of producing 250 million liters (ML) of drinking water per day, supplies 15% of Sydney’s water needs via RO technology and is powered using "100 percent renewable energy" from the 140 MW Capital Wind Farm. The Garden Island plant, currently planned for commissioning in 2014, will be powered by wave energy, using Carnegie Wave Energy's

CETO Ceto (; grc, Κητώ, Kētṓ, sea monster) is a primordial sea goddess in Greek mythology, the daughter of Pontus and his mother, Gaia. As a mythological figure, she is considered to be one of the most ancient deities, and bore a host of ...

system. This system uses submerged buoys to pressurize water offshore, which is piped onshore to either drive turbines for electricity generation or as in this case, to directly desalinate seawater. The Garden Island project is a commercial scale demonstration project, which follows a pilot project off the coast of Fremantle, Western Australia Port Stanvac Desalination Plant P1000724

Port Stanvac Desalination Plant P1000724

The availability of renewable resources as well as their fluctuation in electricity production from region to region requires a customized design for each desalination facility. In order to maintain steady-state operations many facilities utilize renewable energy while connected to a smart grid, importing or exporting energy to the plant as required. The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant utilizes this strategy where 48 wind turbines produce 80MW on the Emu Downs Wind Farm to provide an overall 24MW to the desalination plant. Electrical energy from the renewable energy can also be stored in storage batteries and utilized when needed. As seen in the PV-powered RO system in Gillen Bore, Australia; producing 1,200 L/d. Or if the plant is not required full-time, it can operate using the power as it becomes available. In 2005 a PV-powered hybrid UF/RO filtration system providing 764 liters per day tolerated well power variation from changing weather conditions.

Adelaide

In December 2007, the South Australian government announced it would build the

Adelaide Desalination Plant The Adelaide Desalination plant (ADP), formerly known as the Port Stanvac Desalination Plant, is a sea water reverse osmosis desalination plant located in Lonsdale, South Australia which has the capacity to provide the city of Adelaide with up to ...

seawater desalination plant for the city of Adelaide, Australia, located at

Port Stanvac Port Stanvac is a former port and oil refinery in the suburb of Lonsdale south of Adelaide city centre in South Australia. It was operated by ExxonMobil between 1963 and 2003. Since its closure, the port and adjoining land-based refinery site ...

. The desalination plant was to be funded by raising water rates to achieve full cost recovery.Desalination plant for Adelaide
ministers.sa.gov.au. 5 December 2007

Perth

About two million people occupy the

region in the south western corner of Western Australia. The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant (PSDP) was installed in late 2006 to produce up to 45 gigalitres of potable water per year. In addition, its brine discharge has been shown to have no adverse impact on the environment. The plant buys its power from electricity generated by the

Emu Downs Wind Farm The Emu Downs Wind Farm () is a 79.2 MW wind farm in Western Australia. It was a 50:50 joint development between Griffin Energy and Stanwell Corporation. The site is approximately 200 kilometres north of Perth, near Cervantes. Construction of ...

, located 200 kilometers north of Perth. The 83 megawatt wind farm consists of 48 wind turbines and contributes over 272 giga-watt-hours (GWhr) per year into the grid, fully offsetting the Perth SWRO Plant’s estimated electrical requirement of 180 GWhr per year."Environmentally sound desalination at the Perth seawater desalination plant" by Richard Stover, Gary Crisp Energy Recovery, Inc., San Leandro, California, USA. Retrieved on 2 May 2010 from http://www.energyrecovery.com/UserFiles/file/archives/news/documents/ThePerthSaltwaterDesalinationPlant.pdf The plant has attracted interest from the world’s

water industry The water industry provides drinking water and wastewater services (including sewage treatment) to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the economy. Typically public utilities operate water supply networks. The water industry doe ...

and media, and has won numerous national and international awards including the

International Desalination Association The International Desalination Association (IDA) is the world's leading resource for information and professional development for the global desalination industry – and the only global association focused exclusively on desalination and desalinat ...

's International Desalination Plant of the Year in 2007. Another seawater desalination plant on the coast about 160 kilometres south of Perth is now operational. This plant is designed to have an initial annual output of 50 gigalitres which later doubled to 100 gigalitres when the project was completed in 2012.

References

* Anderson, J. M. (2006). "Integrating recycled water into urban water supply solutions." Desalination 187(1-3): 1-9 {{World topic, Seawater desalination in, noredlinks=yes * Water supply and sanitation in Australia