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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-03-03 Daily Xml
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DESALINATION PLANT

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (15:11): Here we go!

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: Well, I am not surprised that they take so much interest in garbage because that is where they go trawling for their questions. I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Urban Development and Planning a question regarding the desalination plant project at Port Stanvac.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: Building a $1.37 billion desalination plant at Port Stanvac to supply water to the Adelaide metropolitan area is a crucial part of the government's four-way strategy to secure our state's water supply, but it is also important that such a project takes into account the need to safeguard the marine environment of Gulf St Vincent. I am very worried about the marine environment of Gulf St Vincent. The opposition may not care, but I would ask the minister to inform the council what steps the government has taken to ensure that the design of the desalination plant achieves this objective.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for his important question. Indeed, it is important that the new Adelaide desalination plant does meet the highest environmental standards. Construction of that desalination plant at Port Stanvac was approved last week following an exhaustive assessment using the major development process.

This approval means that the project has cleared the final hurdle in the process of development assessment, and work can now begin on what I am sure will be one of the most modern desalination plants in the world using best practice and the latest technology in this field.

The plant will initially produce 50 gigalitres of desalinated water per year with the capacity to be expanded to 100 gigalitres per year, reducing our state's reliance on the River Murray for our drinking water. But, just as importantly, the plant provides Adelaide with an option that does not rely on rainfall to supply water, whether that rainfall is in the Mount Lofty Ranges catchment or the Murray-Darling Basin.

While the project is of immense importance to this state, its development approval has been subject to the most transparent and robust processes that are available under South Australian laws, including a comprehensive environmental impact statement. That environmental impact statement was required to address more than 100 separate environmental, social and economic issues identified by the Independent Development Assessment Commission and, in response to that weighty document, SA Water received 39 public submissions, including 26 from members of the public, 11 from government agencies and two from local government or, to be more specific, the Marion and Onkaparinga councils.

Members of the public were also able to air their concerns at a public meeting at Hallett Cove held during the six-week consultation period. This meeting was in addition to the many public forums hosted by SA Water in the lead-up to the EIS process. This major development assessment concluded that appropriate environmental objectives and performance criteria were being imposed on the plant in a way that safeguards the marine environment and water quality in the Gulf St Vincent. An independent panel of marine experts has supported this conclusion.

The major development assessment recommended that conditions be imposed on the final design and location of the diffuser, and that should ensure that the plant achieves environmental objectives and performance criteria as set out in the environmental impact statement. Eleven conditions have been attached to the development approval and are required to be put in place to ensure the successful development and operation of the plant. These conditions apply to both the construction and operational phases of the plant and include management plans to address issues such as site contamination, noise and vibration, abatement, air quality and traffic controls in and out of the construction site.

SA Water will be required to operate the plant in accordance with an approved operational environment management and monitoring plan prepared to the satisfaction of the Environment Protection Authority. The structures of the intake and outfall will also need to be designed, constructed and operated in accordance with parameters set out in environmental objectives and performance criteria. Further licensing requirements under the Environment Protection Act will also be required.

The assessment report conceded that the operation of the plant involved significant greenhouse emissions as an unavoidable cost of the desalination process. However, the assessment report found that the government's commitment to offset the greenhouse emissions through the use of accredited renewable energy sources and/or the purchase of carbon offsets is appropriate. In fact, the report concluded that the 100 per cent offset strategy is greater than would normally and reasonably be expected from such a development.

This has been a thorough and painstaking process. The approval covers both the construction and operation of the plant, including everything from noise, waste disposal and, of course, more importantly, the marine issues to ensure that the plant has a minimal impact upon the gulf. I look forward to the plant delivering the first water by the end of 2010.

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