Media Release

17 Apr 2008

First pipe laid on desalination pipeline route

Sydney Water Managing Director Kerry Schott announced that the first desalination pipe was laid at Kurnell today.

This is the first of around 2,000 pipes that will form the 18-kilometre pipeline that will connect the desalination plant to Sydney's water supply system at Erskineville.

"The 1.8 metre daimeter steel pipeline will cross Botany Bay and then mostly travel through open space and industrial areas. It will be tunnelled under roads in residential areas, minimising disruption to residents, business and traffic."

Work on the pipeline will generally take place Mondays to Fridays between 7am and 6pm and Saturdays between 8am and 1pm. However, work at major construction sites, such as the Silver Beach work area at Kurnell, and other major tunnelling pits along the route, will take place 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Sydney Water will make every effort to minimise the disruption to the community and will continue to inform local communities of any impacts of the work in their localities. Comprehensive management plans covering noise, dust, access requirements and traffic control will be put in place.

At the end of each section of pipeline work, impacted areas will be restored to their original condition, or better.

"The pipeline will deliver 250 million litres of drinking water a day to Sydney Water customers. It is large enough to carry 500 million litres a day, should the plant be expanded in the future," Dr Schott said.

"The pipeline construction will be finished in December 2009 with water flowing through it and into customer's taps in the summer of 2009/10.

"The cost of the pipeline will be $650 million."

The pipeline is being built by the Water Delivery Alliance, comprising Sydney Water, Bovis Lend Lease, McConnell Dowell, Kellogg, Brown and Root, Worley Parsons and Environmental Resource Management.

Find out more about Sydney's Desalination Project.

 

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