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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-13 Daily Xml
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BHP DESALINATION PLANT

The Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER (15:32): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Environment and Conservation a question about the pilot desalination plant at Port Bonython.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER: The prawn industry in South Australia is worth $36 million, $26 million of which is exported. It is very concerned about any possible effect of saline discharge from the proposed BHP Billiton desalination plant at Port Bonython on the prawn nursery in Upper Spencer Gulf. A pilot plant is being developed currently to investigate, among other things, the environmental effects of a larger plant before final government approval is given for that larger plant. Will the minister confirm that, even though the saline waste from the actual large plant will be discharged into Spencer Gulf, the salt from the pilot plant is not being discharged into the gulf? Will she explain how the results obtained from this trial can possibly be an accurate gauge of future environmental effects?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health) (15:33): The Olympic Dam expansion project, which was declared a major project by the state government, is proposed to include a desalination plant, which will be situated in the Spencer Gulf area. In preparation for the establishment of the proposed plant, a pilot desalination plant is being planned currently by BHP. The intention of the pilot plant is to provide BHP Billiton with a working example of how the process will have to be developed in order to ensure appropriate quality water is produced by the proposed major desalination plant.

I am advised that the EPA has granted a licence to operate a pilot desalination plant, to be constructed at Port Lowly near Whyalla. Among other things, the EPA licence includes conditions that require BHP Billiton to develop and implement a monitoring program that is acceptable to the EPA.

The monitoring program is expected to include specific details relating to the dilution of discharge being emitted into the marine environment from the pilot plant, as well as verification in relation to appropriate plant discharge water salinity. BHP Billiton will also be required to confirm that concentrations of water treatment chemicals will not adversely impact on the ecosystem, specifically on the giant cuttlefish.

As I said, this has to be done in a way and monitored in a way that is acceptable to the EPA. If the EPA is not satisfied with the current arrangements that have been established and with the monitoring that is being done, if it believes that the current monitoring does not enable it to measure those impacts then, quite clearly, it would not be acceptable to the EPA, and it would be required to do things differently.

The program has been received and is currently being assessed by EPA staff. They are carefully involved in this. It should be noted that the requirements for this pilot plant do not have a relationship that obviously might be required for a full size desal plant, due to the different levels of output between the two and the different salinity levels of the discharges.

In relation to the final desal plant in Spencer Gulf, the studies to be included in the environmental impact statement include water quality modelling, both local to the discharge and far field modelling to consider circulation in the gulf, a range of assessments to determine the potential toxic impacts on the local and regional ecosystems, including specifically the giant cuttlefish, and also benthic surveys to determine the existing health of the marine ecosystem. As I have outlined, the monitoring does have to, in effect, meet the needs of the EPA and be acceptable to it. It is involved throughout this process, both at the pilot level and also the final desal plant development.

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