Irrigators say South Australia’s desalination plant could pump 50GL into the Murray

ADELAIDE’S “white elephant” $1.8b desalination plant could be used to save the Murray, irrigators say.

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ADELAIDE’S “white elephant” desalination plant could be used to save the Murray, irrigators say.

The $1.8 billion plant has been chugging along slowly to produce some drinking water, but the National Irrigators’ Council say it could be properly fired up to contribute to the 450 gigalitres promised for South Australia under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

SA Water uses the cheapest water first, which is taken from reservoirs or the River Murray.

The plant, which costs $13.5 million a year to run, was widely derided as a white elephant, whereas SA Water describes it as an insurance policy in case the state hits serious drought conditions again.

An Ernst & Young report released this year suggested 50GL from the plant could be used instead of other efficiency measures as long as the increased costs of running the plant were offset.

The Adelaide desalination plant … irrigators want it run at full capacity.

Council chief executive officer Steve Whan said the good thing about using desal water would be that, instead of water savings upstream being gradually diluted, water could be injected more directly to critical sites such as the Lower Lakes and the Coorong.

“Irrigators would welcome it because many in SA feel they’ve made all the sacrifices to the Plan,” he said. “The suggestion was that part of the funding for finding the 450GL could go to providing the energy for the desal plant.”

Mr Whan said the proposal had been raised because the Ministerial Council will meet on June 8 to contemplate proposals for projects to get the 450GL, which has now been promised on top of the base 2750GL in the Plan.

State Water Minister David Spiers said “significant work would be required to ensure that there was no impact on water prices for South Australians who have seen their water bills increase significantly under the previous Labor government”.

The River Murray … SA Water uses the cheapest water first, which is taken from reservoirs or the River Murray.

“The State Government’s priority is to ensure that the Murray Darling Basin Plan is delivered on time and in full as part of our commitment to the full delivery of the Basin Plan, we are open to looking at a range of efficiency measures with positive or neutral socio-economic impact that will deliver the final 450GL,” he said.

“This year irrigators have been granted 100 per cent water allocation which is great news for our growers, economy and local jobs.”

Ernst&Young noted that while there was a potential for SA to use desal water “further work is needed to develop a business case”. ​

“For SA there is the opportunity to substitute water from the Adelaide Desalination Plant for extractions from the River Murray in exchange for investment in renewable energy and/or other infrastructure,” the report notes.