Second desalination plant may be needed due to climate change

Victoria may need another desalination plant due to climate change, with one minister forecasting a longterm “transition to manufactured water”.

A second desalination plant will be considered for Victoria as part of a strategy to address long-term water shortages expected from climate change.

The Andrews Government’s Water Minister, Lisa Neville, said water security for irrigation and healthy waterways would eventually rely on “manufactured water” – including from the desalination plant operating in Wonthaggi.

When asked by Greens MP Sam Hibbins whether this could see a second desal plant added to the grid, Ms Neville did not rule it out.

But the minister told the parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee that the first option considered would be whether the current plant should be expanded.

Victoria currently has a desal plant in Wonthaggi. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Ms Neville said the Sustainable Water Strategy, released this year and currently out for consultation, is about “trying to develop an orderly transition to manufactured water”.

“In terms of desal … we are using that, and you can see the impact it has,” she said.

“Whether that needs to be expanded, it can go to an extra 50 gigalitres, is that what you do, or do you do something differently?”

The Sustainable Water Strategy looks at a range of options for boosting water sources including harvesting stormwater and rainwater, recycling water, and desal.

Extra desalination is described as having the potential to create large volumes “but may be limited by suitable sites along the coast”, while the current plant could be expanded to boost the capacity from 150 billion litres a year to 200 billion.

Lisa Neville, said water security for irrigation and healthy waterways would eventually rely on “manufactured water”. Picture: Alan Barber

“We need to be in a state of readiness to add new water supplies, such as desalinated water, when required, while keeping our focus on water efficiency and local or decentralised solutions that will help defer or even avoid the need for larger augmentations,” it says.

Opposition water spokeswoman Steph Ryan said it was “shocking that Labor wants to build another desal plant when we still have a massive headache from their first attempt”.

“Labor continues to use the Wonthaggi plant in wet years when the storages are full, forcing stressed households to pay more for their bills,” she said.

Mr Hibbins said it was “not good enough that the health of our rivers and wetlands is dependent on new manufactured water that doesn’t exist and may never happen”.

“The government needs to prioritise the return of environmental water starting immediately or we risk losing precious and important ecosystems,” he said.