Media Release

19 Jul 2007

Contract signed for Sydney's desalination project

The contract to build Sydney’s desalination plant has officially been signed, ensuring the city’s long-term water supply.

Sydney Water signed the contract with representatives from the BlueWater Joint Venture to build the plant at Kurnell, which will be 100 per cent powered by wind energy.

BlueWater will build a desalination plant capable of producing 250 million litres of water a day, which can be scaled up to 500 million litres a day in the future if needed.

The wind-powered desalination plant is the biggest and most significant capital works project Sydney Water has undertaken since Warragamba Dam and is worth around $1 billion.

The uncertainty caused by climate change and the growing population makes it essential to secure non-rainfall dependent sources of water.

While recent rainfalls have been very welcome, the drought has shown that we cannot rely on our dams to provide drinking water, especially with a million new residents living in Sydney over the next 25 to 30 years.

The plant will have no greenhouse impact as it will be powered by wind energy. Work will start on the plant in August and it will provide fresh drinking water to Sydney Water customers by the summer of 2009/10.

BlueWater Joint Venture, consisting of Veolia Water and John Holland Group Pty Ltd, are very experienced in building and operating desalination plants.

Veolia is part of a consortium that built and operates the world’s largest desalination plant in Israel.

Both Veolia and John Holland are members of the consortium building the desalination plant at the Gold Coast.

Desalination is used in many countries and a number of major cities around Australia are turning to desalination to secure their water supplies.

Perth’s desalination plant recently began operating and work will begin soon on a second. A plant is now being built on the Gold Coast and Melbourne recently announced it will go ahead with a large plant. Adelaide is considering desalination as an option.

Sydney Water has developed a comprehensive community consultation program to keep the community informed throughout the project and will work to minimise disruption to residents and businesses during construction.

Extensive environmental planning and monitoring programs are in place to ensure any potential impacts are identified and managed.

A separate contract to construct the water pipeline from Kurnell to Erskineville was recently awarded to the Water Delivery Alliance, of Bovis Lend Lease, McConnell Dowell, Kellogg Brown & Root, Patterson Britton & Partners and Environmental Resources Management. The water pipeline contract is worth around $500 million.

 

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