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2008/05: Should Australia use desalination as a means of addressing water shortage problems?<BR>

2008/05: Should Australia use desalination as a means of addressing water shortage problems?


What they said ...
'The quite possibly mistaken lure of widespread water availability from desalination ... has the potential to drive a major misdirection of public attention, policy and funds away from the pressing need to use all water wisely'
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

'Desalination technology has been extensively developed over the past 50 years to the point where it is routinely considered and reliably used to produce fresh water from saline sources'
International Desalination Association

The issue at a glance
During the 2007 federal election campaign the then Labor Opposition indicated that a Rudd Labor Government would support desalination as one means of addressing Australia's water shortage problems.
On November 20, 2007, Labor announced its $10 billion National Plan for Water Security. The National Plan is intended to fast-track improvements in water efficiency, significantly invest in key water infrastructure projects and address over-allocation.
$1 billion will be drawn from the plan to invest in urban desalination, water recycling and stormwater capture projects that are consistent with environmental best practice and are carbon neutral.
The Rudd Labor Government also plans to 'invest $20 million to establish a National Centre of Excellence in Water Desalination to help secure Australia's permanent drinking water supply from the dangerous effects of climate change.'
These proposals have met with a mixed response. While there were those who have seen them as part of a sensible response to Australia's water shortage, there are others who are concerned at the inclusion of desalination as part of any attempt to address Australia's water problems. Desalination has been criticised as likely to increase global warming. There are also concerns that such a response will discourage consumers from using water less wastefully.

Background information
Desalination is a process that removes excess salt and other minerals from water.
Water is desalinated in order to be converted to fresh water suitable for animal consumption or irrigation, or, if almost all of the salt is removed, for human consumption. Most of the current interest in desalination is on developing cost-effective ways of providing fresh water for human use in regions where the availability of water is limited.
Large-scale desalination typically requires large amounts of energy as well as specialised, expensive infrastructure, making it very costly compared to the use of fresh water from rivers or groundwater.
The large energy reserves of many Middle Eastern countries, along with their relative water scarcity, have led to extensive construction of desalination in this region. Saudi Arabia's desalination plants account for about 24% of total world capacity. The world's largest desalination plant is the Jebel Ali Desalination Plant (Phase 2) in the United Arab Emirates. It is a dual-purpose facility that uses multi-stage flash distillation and is capable of producing 300 million cubic meters of water per year. The largest desalination plant in the United States is at Tampa Bay, Florida, which began desalinising 25 million gallons of water a day in December 2007.
Australia currently has only one percent of the total world desalination capacity. However the high water supply cost in remote areas and also deterioration of some natural water resources may force the adoption of desalination as the source of fresh water in some parts of Australia.

Desalination processes and desalination cost
There are three commonly employed desalination processes:
1. Thermal methods based on separation of fresh water from saline water during water phase changes involving heating and cooling the water(distillation, freezing, distillation).
2. Membrane processes based on forced filtration though semi-permeable membranes (Reverse osmosis, Nanofiltration);
3. Ions removal from saline feedwater under the influence of an electrical potential difference (electrodialysis), which also use a membrane technology for permeate and brine separation.
A combination of the technologies is also available.

Desalination has limited application in many countries, including Australia, since the cost of the desalted water product generally exceeds development of natural water resources. The current view is that membrane processes are likely to be the most cost efficient.
The CSIRO has concluded that desalination technologies remain an expensive option for potable (drinkable) water supply, however ongoing cost reductions are occurring
In Australia the cost of desalted water may become comparable with the current metropolitan water supply price by 2020 as a result of the mainstream technologies or by 2010 if alternative technologies, currently under investigation, become available at industrial scale.

Internet information
On October 28, 2007, the Labor Party announced its $1bn National Urban Water and Desalination Plan. This will include a 10% Water Tax Credit and grants for approved desalination, water recycling, and major storm water capture projects developed by the private sector, local governments, and State and Territory Governments. It also includes details of a number of Centres of Excellence in Desalination to be established in different capital cities. The full text of this media release can be found at http://www.alp.org.au/media/1007/msiwatloo280.php

On November 20, 2007, the Labor Party announced its 'National Plan to Tackle the Water Crisis'. This includes a proposed $10bn outlay, incorporating the $1bn already allocated for urban water and a desalination plan. The full text of this media release can be found at http://www.alp.org.au/media/1107/msiwat201.php

The Australian Water Association is a multi-disciplinary association to address water issues, especially from an urban perspective. It has produced a number of clear and informative fact sheets supplying background information and an overview of the advantages and disadvantages associated with a number of the methods proposed to address Australia's water shortage problems. The fact sheet on desalination can be found at http://www.awa.asn.au/Content/NavigationMenu2/AboutWaterandtheWaterIndustry/WaterFacts/FactSheets/Desalination/default.htm

The Internet information site How Stuff Works has a detailed treatment of reverse osmosis, one of the methods used to remove salt form water. This can be found at http://science.howstuffworks.com/question29.htm

On April 7, 2005, the ABC's science information program Catalyst aired a program dealing with desalination. The program explains some of the processes involved and looks at some of the advantages and disadvantages. This is all presented in the context of desalination plants planned for Perth and Sydney. A transcript of the program can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1340461.htm

The ABC's Ask an Expert segment has addressed Desalination. Some of the questions answered are 'What happens to the excess salt produced by desalination' and 'Is it possible to run a desalination plant using solar energy'. A variety of experts respond to these questions and where there are differences of opinion these are indicated. A transcript can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/science/expert/realexpert/desalination/

ActNow is a public information site run by The Inspire Foundation, an Australian not-for-profit organisation that aims to 'create opportunities for young people to change their world.' The site has a simple outline of the arguments for and against desalination focussing on the proposal to use desalination to help address Sydney's water shortage problems. This information can be found at http://www.actnow.com.au/Issues/Desalination.aspx

On September 18, 2007, the Internet opinion site, Online Opinion, published a comment from Democrat senator, Lyn Allison, titled, 'Desalination: a last resort'. Senator Allison outlines the disadvantages of desalination. This comment can be found at http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=6375

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is opposed to desalination. It has an extensive information and opinion-based publication explaining its position at the issue. It is titled, 'Desalination: option or distraction for a thirsty world?' The treatment is a pdf file requiring Adobe Acrobat. It can be found at http://wwf.org.au/publications/desalinationreportjune2007/

Sydney Water has produced a number of fact sheets presenting information and opinion in support of Sydney's proposed desalination plant. One fact sheet titled 'Sydney's Desalination Project: Seawater into drinking water' clearly outlines, with diagrams, the reverse osmosis process Sydney will use. Another sheet titled 'Sydney's Desalination Project: Protecting the environment' outlines what measures are being taken to minimise damage to the environment. These sheets and others can be a accessed from http://www.sydneywater.com.au/EnsuringtheFuture/Desalination/Factsheets.cfm

Arguments in favour of Australia using desalination
1. Australia has major water shortage and water management issues
Australia has major problems related to water shortage and water misuse. The consequences of global warming are likely to exacerbate these water problems. This situation has lead many to search for solutions to Australia's water problems. Desalination has been offered as one solution.
In a report produced in 2006 titled, 'Can Australia Overcome its Water Scarcity Problems?', Colin Chartres and John Williams stated, 'Australia is a continent of extremes with respect to water resources; relative abundance in the tropical north where few people live and relative scarcity in the more populated, temperate south.
In addition, both south and north are affected by wet/dry seasonal climatic conditions and the south, in particular, by increasing climate variability marked generally by declining rainfall.
In the south, previous poor governance systems have led to the over allocation of surface and groundwater supplies and there is increasing competition for water from irrigators, urban/domestic, industrial and mining users. As a consequence, there has been a major deleterious impact on the health of many rivers and their associated environments.
Therefore, Australia is confronted with a major question; can water productivity and water governance be improved to ensure environmentally sustainable and productive river systems?'
A research brief prepared for the Australian Parliament by Dr Sophia Dimitriadis titled, 'Issues encountered in advancing Australia's water recycling schemes' was tabled on August 16, 2005. Dr Sophia Dimitriadis states, 'Pressure on the availability of Australian freshwater resources is increasing principally due to emerging climate change and population growth.
With regard to climate change, the predictions by CSIRO are compelling. For example the average number of days above 35 §C annually in Brisbane is predicted to increase by 20 days by 2070. An increase in annual national average temperatures of between 1.0 §C and 6.0 §C by 2070 is also anticipated. In terms of rainfall, the annual average is predicted to drop from 1140 mm to 1010 mm. The decline in rainfall is projected to be far greater in Perth with a reduction from an annual average of 869 mm at present to 660 mm by 2070...
Australia is a country of 20 million people, and the Water Services Association of Australia projects a 32 per cent population increase in urban areas by 2030. As a result of this population growth a serious shortage of catchment capacity is developing in coastal cities like Brisbane and Perth. Carol Howe, from the CSIRO, estimates that even if Australia were to cut per capita water use by 7 per cent and one-quarter of new suburbs were to use recycled water for outdoor activities and toilet flushing, the country would still face a shortfall in supply of 800 gigalitres (GL) by 2030.'

2. A number of other possible solutions to water shortage problems are either ineffective or politically unacceptable
As a vital commodity used in so many ways, water is a very sensitive political issue. Users have strong reservations about recycled water and there are growing environmental concerns about building addition dams or diverting additional water from already over-taxed rivers. In this context, desalination can appear the most acceptable alternative.
Toward the end of 2006 the Wollongong University conducted a survey of 1000 Australians to gauge popular attitudes toward recycled water and water produced through desalination. Their findings indicated a marked distrust of recycled water.
In a news report published on January 7, 2008, the findings were summarised. 'Drinking recycled water doesn't wash with most Australians, with nearly half believing it contains human waste and 70 per cent equating it with purified sewage ...
Almost 30 per cent thought recycled water was "disgusting" and one in four believed it stained the washing. Only 11 per cent said they would be very likely to use it for drinking.'
On March 1, 2007, the former federal Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, issued a media release outlining the limitations of dams as a means of addressing Australia's water problems. The release makes the following claims, 'Over time as the environmental costs of large dams have become more clear and alternative water supply options more advanced, the limitations of dams have become evident. South East Queensland, for example has 6 years worth of annual consumption in dam storages, yet it is currently facing critical water shortages.
The operation of dams dramatically alters the streamflow of rivers, impacting on the natural volume and variability of river flows. River flows are vital for the efficient transportation and maintenance of clean high quality water. A reduction in streamflow not only reduces the amount of water available, but inhibits the ability of the river to transport that water. Regulation can have complex and interconnected ecological ramifications.
Reduction in flow volumes typically leads to sedimentation, channel narrowing and reduced channel depth. Flow volumes determine the total amount of in-stream habitat that the river can support and the diversity of its species. Reduced streamflow will lower local groundwater levels, adversely affect localised tree and plant life and alter the important relationship between surface water and groundwater in the ecosystem.
Dams have a limited ability to secure our water supply against seasonal fluctuations. Large storages are of little use when there is no water flowing into them for extended periods.'

3. Desalination technology can be made more efficient
There are significant attempts currently being made to increase the efficiency of desalination processes. Such attempts aim to reduce the cost of the process, its energy demands and to reduce the problems associated with brine waste disposal.
The CSIRO, through the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, and in partnership with nine Australian Universities, has established the Advanced Membrane Technologies for Water Treatment Research Cluster. The Membrane Cluster brings together some of Australia's leading scientists from a range of disciplines in a bid to place Australia at the forefront of novel membrane development.
Led by Professor Stephen Gray of Victoria University, the multi-disciplinary research team is carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of existing membranes (used in osmosis-based desalination processes) and is attempting to develop new energy-efficient membranes.
Professor Gray has stated, 'Many desalination and recycling programs rely on a process called reverse osmosis, where the water is forced through a semi-permeable membrane, removing salts and any other contaminants.
These membranes need regular replacement and cleaning, but they also require a large amount of energy to force water through what are nano-sized pores.
We aim to improve membrane design to increase their energy efficiency and reliability, thus reducing the financial and environmental costs of producing desalinated and recycled water.
We also aim to improve membrane "anti-fouling" properties - that is, the ability of the membrane to "self-clean". When contaminants are removed from water, some of them adhere to the surface. These contaminants build up on the surface, increasing the pressure and energy required. Chemicals are used to clean the membranes, but membrane surfaces that are less sticky would reduce the pressure and energy required and the frequency of cleaning.'

4. The greenhouse effects of desalination processes are being addressed
Supporters of desalination argue that its high energy requirements and impact on global warming have either been exaggerated or are being addressed. Colin Creighton, the director of Water for a Healthy Country, has stated, 'The current power consumption for seawater desalination is less than 3 kWh/m3, which is a 90% reduction in energy use over the past 40 years. This is because of improvements in membrane technology and energy recovery systems. The cost of desalting seawater has also reduced in recent years, with the newest reverse osmosis plants in Israel and Singapore producing water for about $US 0.50 per metre cubed.'
It has also been suggested that environmentally friendly energy sources, such as solar and wind power, could be used to power the desalination process. Professor Roya Sheikholeslami of AAA Water Energy Technologies Pty Ltd, Australasian Desalination Association, The University of British Columbia has stated, 'It is possible to run a desalination plant on solar energy alone, but at a much smaller scale.
Solar energy is in the form of heat. Photovoltaic cells transfer this heat energy into electrical energy, and this is then transferred into mechanical and heat energy again. So it is not a terribly efficient solar energy source to use. There are other types of solar energy, for example solar ponds, that don't use photovoltaic cells and can be incorporated into desalination plants. Photovoltaic cells are very expensive as well.
Other sources of energy can be used, for example wind energy, or waste heat produced in various industries such as the mineral processing industry or especially in power generation industry where only 60 to 70% of the heat energy is used. There is also the possibility of coupling solar energy with other energy sources or using it as a supplementary source of energy, and this is being looked at around the world.'

5. The environmental effects of salt release is minimal
Those who support the use of desalination as a way of addressing Australia's water problems argue that the environmental damage caused by the production of salt as a by-product can be minimised.
One means of addressing the salt problem is to extract less fresh water per cubic metre of seawater. This means that desalination produces fresh water and brine (salt water), rather than fresh water and salt. The brine released back into the ocean creates fewer pollution problems. This process has been explained by Colin Creighton, the director of Water for a Healthy Country. Colin Creighton has stated, 'When seawater is desalinated, the brine is returned to the sea. This means that the desalination process can operate with lower recoveries - you are not recovering all of the water, but some of the water - leaving you with fresh water and brine rather than water and salt, and so you use less energy per metres cubed for the water produced. The brine is usually discharged to in a location that allows it to be quickly dispersed, so its effect on the environment can be minimised.
The mixing functions in the ocean are such that it does not harm marine life unless there was no mixing at the release point, and that is avoided.'

Arguments against Australia using desalination
1. Desalination is a very expensive process
It has been repeatedly noted that the desalination process is expensive. It will be initially expensive to establish and ongoingly expensive to run and maintain. The result is likely to be an increase in government debt and in the cost of water to consumers.
These points were made by Kenneth Davidson in an article published in The Age on December 10, 2007. Davidson stated, 'If dams were built on the McCallister and Mitchell rivers in Gippsland with a capacity of 400 gigalitres, at about $2 billion, the cost would ... be a fraction of the desal plant.
The dam option, built by public borrowings at 6% repayable over 40 years would cost Melbourne Water about $80 million a year. This would not require a significant increase in wholesale water charges (although that would be desirable on environmental grounds).
By comparison, a $3 billion desal plant producing 150 gigalitres of water a year, built as a PPP [public-private partnership] requiring a 12% return on capital repayable over 25 years would cost Melbourne Water $450 million a year in operating and capital repayment costs, tripling the wholesale price of the additional water.'
The cost of desalination has lead to some projects being scrapped. In 2007 a British firm contracted to deliver water to the South East of England had decided against a desalination plant because of the relative costs involved. It was found that desalinated water would cost œ450 per million litres, compared with œ50 per million litres for abstracting and treating river water, and œ35 per million litres for abstracting and treating ground waste

2. Desalination contributes to global warming
In June 2007 the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) issued a statement opposing the use of desalination to address water shortage problems. In an article published in The Age on June 19, 2007, it was stated, 'Removing salt from sea water to overcome a worldwide shortage of drinking water could end up worsening the crisis ...
Desalination, the filtering and evaporation of sea water, is very energy-intensive and involves significant emissions of greenhouse gases that scientists say are a factor in the shrinking supplies of freshwater, the Swiss-based group [WWF] said.'
Similar claims have been made by Lyn Allison a senator for Victoria and leader of the Australian Democrats in an article published on Online Opinion on September 17, 2007. Senator Allison states, 'Global warming is lowering rainfall across the state and the warmer it gets the more droughts and occasional floods there will be. Water, or lack of it, and global warming are inextricably linked. Yet desalination is a silo attempt to tackle the water crisis and by so doing the Victorian State Government is only exacerbating the problem.
Desalination is a highly energy intensive process. The proposed plant at Wonthaggi is expected to add 2 per cent to Victoria's greenhouse gas emissions every year. And yet the amount of water processed will only produce the equivalent of that required to power two of the regions four coal-fired power stations.'
It has been claimed that efforts to reduce or offset the greenhouse gas emissions associated with desalination are either fanciful or cosmetic. Kenneth Davidson in an article published in The Age on December 10, 2007, stated, 'The [Victorian] Government's claim that a desal plant would be carbon-neutral because it would be offset by wind farms is a nonsense. The argument is medieval. It makes as much sense as the Catholic Church selling indulgences, allowing the rich to sin tonight and square the slate tomorrow by the purchase of sin offsets.
The desal plant would spew some 945,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year - equal to another 240,000 cars on Melbourne's roads.'

3. Desalination damages the marine environment
There are those who have warned that the release of concentrated saltwater (brine) as a waste product of desalination can have a damaging effect on marine environments. Professor Nick Ashbolt, the Head of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New South Wales has stated, 'The brine generated as a waste water during desalination is heavier than seawater, so if incorrectly discharged to the ocean would sink to the bottom. In addition, the brine is devoid of dissolved oxygen as a result of the desalination process.
If it is released into calm water it can sink to the bottom as a plume of salty water that can kill organisms on the sea bed from a lack of oxygen.'
In June 2007 the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) issued a statement opposing the use of desalination to address water shortage problems. The WWF has stressed that the release of brine could harm marine environments. In an article published in The Age on June 19, 2007, it was stated, 'Large-scale desalination engineering could also endanger sea life, the WWF said, urging further research into the tolerance of marine organisms and ecosystems to higher salinity and brine waste, by-products of the salt removal process.'
In addition to the brine produced there has been concern expressed about the effect on marine environments of sucking up large amounts of seawater and the creatures that live in it in order to convert this seawater into fresh water.
Lyn Allison a senator for Victoria and leader of the Australian Democrats, has claimed, in an article published on Online Opinion on September 17, 2007, 'The fact that a four-meter diameter pipe will suck up five truck loads of marine organisms a day suggests the sea bed will soon be become an underwater desert. Brine will cause further trouble, as will a big industrial plant set down in idyllic farmland tucked behind the dunes of a pristine beach.'
In a report released in 2007 the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) stated, 'Source waters for water manufacturing processes can vary from waste waters to contaminated
brackish ground or surface waters to seawater. The concern with seawater and some other source waters are that they are also habitat for a variety of marine or aquatic life. Appropriate intake design can mitigate many of the potential impacts on larger life forms but the key long term cumulative impact may be with the removal of small life forms such as plankton, eggs and fish larvae.'

4. There are more effective and less expensive means of addressing Australia's water shortage problems
It has been noted that there is a wide range of other measures that could be employed to address Australia's water problems. Kenneth Davidson in an article published in The Age on December 10, 2007, stated, 'First cab off the rank must be water conservation. Incentives in the form of carrots (subsidies to induce households to invest in tanks to harvest rain water and recycle grey water) and sticks (in the form of pricing to promote water saving) have been widely canvassed.'
Davidson has outlined a number of other strategies that could be employed. He has observed that 'A private group is looking at piping water from lakes 600 metres above sea level in the north-west of Tasmania, under Bass Strait, to Victoria. Gravity could carry the water as far as Ballarat, which is 450 metres above sea level. The capital cost of the pipe would be less than $500 million.
This scheme would allow water to be diverted from the Thompson Dam into the Goulburn and Murray Darling river system, but it has been studiously ignored by the Brumby Government.'
Davidson also notes that limiting logging in catchment areas would lead to water gains. 'A group called the Melbourne Water Catchment Network, which has grown out of the successful Otway Ranges Environment Network, put forward a powerful presentation to the Victorian Local Governance Association ...that produced scientific evidence that if clearfell logging in Melbourne's native water supply catchments was stopped, this would eventually create an additional 130 litres per household per day, equal to 16% of Melbourne's present consumption.
Their evidence suggested the net present value of sawlogs and pulp logs harvested from the catchments is $70-90 million compared with the net present value of water gained by ceasing logging in catchments of $360-470 million based on the water opportunity cost of $1000 per megalitre.
But if desal water is closer to $3000 a megalitre - based on Melbourne Water estimates - then the net present value of the water gained by not logging the catchment is between $1.1 billion and $1.4 billion. The cost of compensating the loggers to quit the catchment area would be less than $40 million.'

5. A focus on desalination could divert attention from more appropriate measures
There has been concern expressed that if Australia proceeds down the desalination path it could lead to a false sense of security. There could be less effort made to conserve water by reducing wasteful usage. There could also be less effort made to develop other water sources that have a less damaging environmental impact than does desalination.
Lyn Allison a senator for Victoria and leader of the Australian Democrats, has claimed, in an article published on Online Opinion on September 17, 2007, that '[The] reality is that Melbourne is served by much bigger dams than other cities in Australia and the rest of the world. Water shortages have arisen because demand has now outstripped supply. The Wonthaggi desalination plant will add to supply and divert effort and investment in less costly and more environmentally benign alternatives. What the state government's desalination decision means is that it is not prepared to tell Melbournians they actually don't need any more water.
It might be raining less, but even so, much more rain falls on the average size urban property than the average water consumption of the family that resides there. But it gets worse because not only do we fail to capture much of the water that falls, but a large percentage of what we collect in our near-empty dams is subsequently lost via a leaking and inefficient reticulation system.
However the real crime is how we use what is left. Two thirds of the world's population uses less than 50 litres of water per day. The average Australian family despite living on the driest continent on earth uses 1,100 litres a day, 80 per cent of which is used to flush toilets, do the laundry and water the garden. Restrictions in Melbourne are stopping garden watering on all but two days a week but there is no obligation to be more efficient elsewhere.
People in the country rightly see city folk as wasteful and not made to appreciate the value of water. While most of rural Victoria is on stage 4 restrictions or higher and has been for some time, Melburnians are offered a project worth $3.1 billion to guarantee their profligate use.'

Further implications
The Rudd Labor Government's attitude toward desalination is an interesting mix of support and recognition of the need for further investigation.
The new government appears to recognise the urgency of the water shortage issue and that some regions in Australia are going to need what amounts to a quick fix. Desalination may have an immediate role to play in this context. However, the government also appears to be aware of the limitations of the technology. Its proposed National Centre of Excellence in Water Desalination indicates an awareness that current technology is both too expensive and too environmentally questionable to be employed as a significant answer to Australia's water shortage problems.
The Government has announced plans to encourage more efficient and thus reduced water usage. It has indicated that it will supply funds to help improve water distribution systems and reduce the amount of water currently lost to evaporation.
On the question of desalination, the Government clearly sees a place for this process as a means of 'creating' water as opposed to using it more wisely; however, it is also concerned by the current limitations of the technology. It is planning to establish a research centre to address some of these technological shortcomings.
Once established, the National Centre of Excellence in Water Desalination is intended to help secure Australia's water supply from the effects of climate change by:
1. investigating ways of optimising and adapting desalination technology for optimum use in Australia's unique circumstances;
2. expanding on research into the use of desalination technology in rural and regional areas; and
3. researching ways of efficiently and affordably reducing the carbon footprint of desalination facilities.
It can only be hoped that the Centre will produce the results the Government clearly hopes from it.

Newspaper items used to compile this issue outline (with apologies for the oversight that left this section blank for many weeks - and thanks to the school librarian who alerted us)
AGE, September 4, 2008, page 15, analysis (ref to Victorian water supplies) by Royce Millar, `Empty promises?'.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/empty-promises-20080903-48v9.html

AGE, August 30, 2008, page 1, news item by Peter Ker, `Water plant to guzzle energy'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/water-plant-to-guzzle-energy-20080829-45r3.html?page=-1

AGE, September 5, 2008, page 5, news item by Peter Ker, http://www.theage.com.au/environment/corporations-could-control-states-water-capital-20080904-49xx.html

AGE, September 13, 2008, page 4, news item by Peter Ker, `State warns desalination plant bidders of shutdowns'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/state-warns-desalination-plant-bidders-of-shutdowns-20080912-4fic.html

AGE, October 2, 2008, page 13, comment by Kenneth Davidson, `There is time to abandon water plans'.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/there-is-time-to-abandon-water-plans-20081001-4rzp.html

AGE, October 15, 2008, page 5, news item by Peter Ker, `EPA raises concerns on desalination plant'.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/epa-raises-concerns-on-desalination-plant-20081014-50nd.html

AGE, October 26, 2008, page 18, editorial, `Deciding the future, drop by precious drop'.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/deciding-the-future-drop-by-precious-drop-20081025-58mm.html?page=-1

H/SUN, October 31, 2008, page 40, comment by Andrew Bolt, `Brumby's cup full, dams dry'.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24578367-5000117,00.html

AGE, November 20, 2008, page 21, comment by Kenneth Davidson, `Why is water recycling being overlooked?'.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/why-is-water-recycling-being-overlooked-20081119-6bl8.html

AGE, January 17, 2009, page 6, news item by Peter Ker, `Marine expert hits desal claim'.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/marine-expert-hits-desal-claim-20090116-7j79.html

AGE, January 13, 2009, page 3, news item by Peter Ker, `State drops its power limits for desal plant'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/state-drops-its-power-limits-for-desal-plant-20090112-7f8q.html