Wonthaggi desal plant to help dwindling water levels

Melbourne’s water storages levels have plummeted in recent months, and now the Victorian government is considering ramping up the controversial Wonthaggi desal plant to help ease pressure on resources. Here’s why levels are so low.

inside Victoria's Desalination plant in Dalyston. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Melbourne’s water storages are almost half-empty and will trigger an expensive desalination plant order likely to cost at least $70 million.

A record water order of 100 billion litres is firming after a dry summer, with concerns about poor dam inflows that have dropped to only 5 per cent above average Milennial drought inflows.

Storage levels have plummeted almost 10 per cent in six months, even after 15 billion litres were added to dams after being produced by the desal plant.

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Water use by households is relatively low at an average of 161 litres a day, but soaring population is putting extra pressure on resources.

Water Minister Lisa Neville said she would act on advice provided to her by the department, and did not rule out ramping up production at the Wonthaggi plant.

“We have had the hottest summer on record,” she said.

“We are so dry, even with rain it will take a long time for the water from run-off to fill dams.”

Lisa Neville said she would not rule out ramping up production at the Wonthaggi plant to help with low storage levels.

Ms Neville would not say how much water she thought was needed from the desal plant but said the government would be mindful of pressure on household bills when making a final decision.
She said that bills were low compared to other states and “we want to keep it that way”.

The contract for the desalination plant allows for orders of between 0 gigalitres and 150 gigalitres a year.

A maximum order would cost more than $130 million, which could be spread across the millions of Melbourne water customers.

In previous years, however, the government has resisted adding costs to families by paying for it with other government revenue.

Melbourne storages declined by 0.8 per cent in just the past week.

Many regional storages have also plumetted, with water set to be transferred from the Thomson dam to Barwon storages in Geelong due to shortages.

Storages in the east of Victoria near to drought-affected communities have also plunged, with levels at Lake Glenmaggie almost 30 per cent lower than at this time last year.

The Bureau of Meteorology is expecting a drier and warmer Autumn than average in Victoria, which would put a further strain on resources.

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