Desalination Protest Action

NSW Parliament was greeted with a white elephant on Thursday October 18th as protestors expressed the feeling to the NSW Government that the desalination plant is a $2 billion waste. The desalination white elephant will haunt the Government as it follows them round financially and also as the community expresses their strong disapproval of the project. 

This white elephant will follow the NSW Government until they put the desal plant on hold and stop the environmental damage, energy use and protect Botany Bay.

Organised by the Sydney Alliance to Avert Desalination.

For further details please contact Sam McGuinness. 

This action follows a public meeting held in September with close to 200 people unanimously calling on the Kurnell desalination plant to be put on hold. There was a meaningful and open discussion on this controversial development from a range of people. The crowd was engaged by speakers including Kurnell representatives Trevor and Susan Davis, Gary Blaschke from the Botany Bay and Catchment Alliance, Professor Stuart White from the Institute of Sustainable Futures and Cate Faehrman from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.

Also in attendance and voicing their opposition were the State Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell, Greens MP John Kaye, and a range of other Councillors and politicians. The meeting was addressed by Water Utilities Minister Nathan Rees who outlined the reasons as to why the plant was needed - mainly future rainfall variability and population growth - and the financial benefits of proceeding early. The audience was unconvinced though, especially following Stuart White's expert analysis of the desalination plant being only an emergency response that may never be turned on. Professor White complimented Sydney Water on their excellent demand management and recycling progams and how these have been designed to adequately cope with growth and demand - without a desalination plant. Gary Blaschke outlined the environmental impacts on Botany Bay and surrounding areas.

The Minister was questioned in regard to the use of green power, with the audience adamant that renewable energy should be used on reducing our present emissions rather than those of this energy intensive, unnecessary plant.

If you wish to further support the campaign to halt the desalination plant please contact Sam McGuinness via email.

Sydney Alliance to Avert Desalination, Sydney community members and environment groups are joining together to voice our opposition to the Kurnell desalination plant.
Put Desalination On Hold – Save Money, Energy and Botany Bay

Wednesday September 12, University Hall, UTS, Broadway (entrance Harris St), 6:30pm – 8pm

This is your opportunity to protest against the desalination plant. The Premier and Water utilities Minister have been invited to attend and justify the desalination project.

Introduction

The Sydney Alliance to Avert Desalination (SAAD) will be releasing a resolution here shortly that you can sign on to.

Unnecessary Infrastructure

The NSW Government's own Metropolitan Water Plan (MWP) is being ignored through the construction of this plant. The MWP clearly outlines that the desalination plant is an extreme drought response option to ensure our water security. It emphasises that it need not be built until dam levels in Sydney reach 30% which has never occurred. Deferring the desalination plant means that, as the MWP states, “…there is more time to implement water efficiency and recycling measures across Sydney.” As Sydney receives over 1 metre of rainfall each year we have real alternatives available to us.

Silver Beach, Kurnell

Unnecessary cost to the community

The desalination plant is not being built for this drought, but as the Water Utilities Minister Nathan Rees states, “for the next drought.” The $1.7billion project will result in NSW consumers paying at least $100 per year extra on their water bills. The money being spent on this plant could be used to massively expand Sydney’s recycling which presently only represents less than 10% of Sydney’s water usage. Presently there is very limited rainwater harvesting in Sydney which needs to be enormously expanded. Finally, one of the most cost effective methods to manage your water resource is through water efficiency measures, and significant gains are still to be made so that we can significantly reduce our water usage and avoid the construction of the desalination plant.

Environmental Impacts

The plant will have many environmental impacts including the following:

• The desalination plant will have significant electricity usage and contribute to increasing overall electricity use. The 250 ML/day plant is predicted to contribute 0.8% of NSW’s electricity use. Despite the NSW Government promising to use greenpower to power this project it is a regressive step to use greenpower on an unnecessary project, which would be better used to reduce our present greenhouse emissions.
• Impact of intake points on the biodiversity, particularly bottom dwelling (benthic) invertebrates which will be displaced.
• 

  Desalination Protest Meeting
  Impact of salty brine output and treatment chemicals which may impact on marine life, including marine mammals. As stated in the environmental assessment on the project, there is little research on the impact of the outlet pipe and we have serious concerns about this and that at the least marine life in the immediate area of the outlet pipe will be lost due to the enormous change in salinity levels. Cape Solander, in close proximity to the outtake point, is the National Parks and Wildlife Service site for recording whale migration from May to August each year. Sydney Water is also seeking to dispose of the backwash chemicals used to clean the reverse osmosis membranes which are potentially toxic to the marine ecosystem and for which they need to show will have a manageable impact.
  
• The transportation and disposal of spoil resulting from the tunnelling of the intake and outtake pipes. This will require enormous amount of spoil to be trucked to appropriate disposal sites resulting in traffic issues and significant greenhouse emissions.
• The disturbance to the threatened sea grass beds of Silver Beach. These sea grass beds are endangered and been shown to be very difficult to transplant or rehabilitate. Sydney Water recognises that this may result in impacts on marine life such as sea dragons, sea horses, pipe fish and a range of fish and benthic life. This will have serious ramifications on the ecosystem of the Bay which relies on these sea grasses. Areas such as the adjoining internationally renowned Towra Point Nature Reserve will be impacted by this loss.

Desalination site

• The dredging of the bed of Botany Bay to lay pipelines will increase turbidity, release toxic matter that has settled and cause the spread of invasive weeds such as Caulerpa Taxifolia.
• There will be significant noise pollution, construction and disruption as the pipeline infrastructure is constructed through Sydney suburbs.
• The impacts on Botany Bay are further expanded through other projects such as the Botany Bay cable project, Port Botany expansion and existing projects such as the Airport expansion which push the remaining ecosystems in the Bay to their limits.
  

The Kurnell desalination plant history   

Site preparations

July 2007 – Sydney Alliance to Avert Desalination established

June 2007 – Tenders Awarded as the NSW Government commits to a desalination plant double the size announced during the election and when dam levels were at 57% - 27% higher than the trigger point written in the Metropolitan Water Plan.

March 2007 – NSW election is held. Water is a major issue with the Morris Iemma Government highly supportive and committed to the desalination plant. Peter Debnam’s opposition supports large scale recycling of water but is defeated.

June 2006 – NSW Parliamentary Inquiry finds that a desalination plant would be unnecessary for Sydney if recycling and re-use strategies are implemented. November 2006 – Planning Approval for the desalination plant is awarded by the Planning Minister Frank Sartor. This is despite overwhelming opposition during the submission process.

February 2006 – Due to public pressure and the ‘discovery’ of groundwater resources, Premier Iemma announces that the desalination plant will now only go ahead if dam levels reach 30% as it is an extreme drought response measure.

December 2005 – Sydney Community United Against Desal (SCUD) launched and shows that 70% of Sydneysiders are against the expensive and energy intensive plant.

November 2005 – Premier Iemma announces that the desalination plant will be fully government funded, avoiding the issues that had plagued other private projects such as the Cross-City Tunnell.

October 2005 – NSW Government announces plans to build two trial desalination plants at Kurnell, as the plans for the desalination plant progress.

September 2005 – Planning Minister Frank Sartor declares the desalination plant  “Critical Infrastructure” under new Part 3A planning laws that give the Minister unprecedented discretionary power.

August 2005 – New NSW Premier Iemma reinforces his predecessors thoughts by saying that a desalination plant would go ahead drought or no drought.

July 2005 – Bob Carr who had previously described the plant as producing bottled electricity announces plan to build a desalination plant at Kurnell.

Links

World Wildlife Fund, “Desalination: option or distraction for a thirsty world”. A report that looks in detail at the issue of desalination and its potential environmental impacts.

Sydney Water website on the desalination plant

NSW Department of Planning reports on the Kurnell desalination plant

NCC/ACF Report, “Economics of Rainwater Tanks” showing that the desalination plant can be deferred until at least 2022.

Total Environment Centre - Alternative to desalination

Kurnell residents website

Sutherland Shire Environment Centre

Your Water, Your Say website for the desalination proposal in Victoria near Wonthaggi

Botany Bay and Catchment Alliance, An umbrella group of over 35 community and environment groups within Botany Bay 

NCC submission on the desalination plant