Desalination plant will damage aquaculture and must be moved: Report

A scathing scientific report has recommended SA Water’s Port Lincoln desalination plant not go ahead at the planned location, because it would damage the blue mussel aquaculture industry.

A scathing scientific report has recommended SA Water’s Port Lincoln desalination plant not go ahead at the planned location, because it would damage the blue mussel aquaculture industry.

The fishing industry commissioned the Flinders University report that puts cold water on the plan, which has been given a tick by the South Australian Research and Development institute.

Report author and Flinders University Professor Jochen Kaempf said the SARDI report was scientifically flawed and had made incorrect findings.

Professor Kaempf said the failure to account for coastal currents sweeping larvae to inlet pipes was a “gross scientific oversight” and salt calculations at the outlet were “highly questionable”.

“Based on this reduced flushing of the region, I recommend that the Port Lincoln seawater desalination plant not be operated in the shallow waters of Boston Bay and Proper Bay,’’ he said.

“Uncertainty around larvae dispersal in the coastal zone means my general advice is to

place the intake structure well outside the coastal zone and away from aquaculture ventures such as the blue mussel industry in Proper Bay.”

Eyre Peninsula Seafoods owners Mark Andrews and Andrew Puglisi commissioned the Flinders University report.

He rejected laboratory modelling which had been used to predict damage to the environment and said field trials at the sensitive site must be carried out.

The 5.3GL plant is crucial for the region’s water supply, but locals have loudly opposed the project at the Billy Lights Point location, arguing there is the least current and wave action to disperse salt discharge.

Scientists fear the inlets for the $313 million project will suck up too many blue mussel larvae and the salty discharge will cause other harm because the point is at the mouth of the important Proper Bay.

Professor Kaempf said while the accepted measure for salt discharge was 100 metres from outflow pipes, the SARDI experts had measured at 300 metres.

Professor Kaempf said the notorious reduced flushing ability of the region had contributed to the mass mortality of captive southern bluefin tuna in inner Boston Bay in 1996.

But SA Water chief executive David Ryan said the location was chosen after years of study of 15 sites.

“Billy Lights Point best meets all the criteria to deliver water security … is the most cost-effective and timely water security solution for the people of Eyre Peninsula,’’ he said.

He said a world-expert Marine Science Review Panel confirmed that the Billy Lights Point plant could be built without impacting the marine environment.

Director of SARDI Peter Appleford said the original report authors would make a full scientific response to the criticisms, which had been rejected by SARDI.

He said the SARDI paper must not be read in isolation because SA Water had done much additional work in the technical compliance of the project.

“Our modelling has been externally reviewed by international expert and the report has not raised anything new,’’ Mr Appleford said.