Why can a desalination plant be built to provide fresh water to the Lower Lakes?
While the Adelaide sea water desalination plant at Port Stanvac will help make sure drinking water is available for Adelaide, even in times of drought, it could take approximately eight of these plants just to replace evaporation from the Lower Lakes. Approximately four times as much water evaporates from the Lower Lakes than is used by the entire Adelaide metropolitan area every year. If fresh water was produced in the region using a large desalinisation plant, large amounts of hyper-saline waste water would be created. This could severely damage the environment near the shore, depending on where it is released in the region. The effluent could also wash back into the Murray Mouth, resulting in increased salinity. Noise and vibration associated with construction and operation are also likely to negatively impact on fish and birds in the region. Establishing the Adelaide sea water desalination plant at Port Stanvac will help reduce our reliance on the River Murray.
