SEQ's proposed desalination plant sites ...
Excerpt from Brisbane Times:
27 March 2008
...
The six new sites identified by the Queensland Water Commission are owned by local councils, or the State Government.
Five of the six sites have the potential to produce more than 400ML/day, while the smallest site, at Lytton, has the potential to provide 100 megalitres per day.
The sites include:
- a 53ha site owned by Maroochy Shire Council at Marcoola near Sunshine Coast Airport;
- a 27.6ha site at Kawana owned by Caloundra Shire Council next to the Kawana Sewage Treatment Plant;
- a 8.3ha site in Freight Street at Lytton, next to the Australia TradeCoast industrial area;
- a 3110ha pine plantation at Bribie Island, which is surrounded by pine plantations;
- a 1970ha site on North Stradbroke Island within the Ibis sand mine; and
- a 63ha site on South Stradbroke Island, on State Government-owned land.
See - SEQ - desal plant sites.
Also see - SEQ - desal plant site map.
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 6:50 AM
6 Comments:
ABC News:
Only one desalination site will be chosen: Bligh
Mar 27, 2008
The Premier says only one site will be needed for any new desalination plant in south-east Queensland, and it is decades away.
A desalination plant is already being built at Tugun on the Gold Coast.
Local groups have reacted negatively to the Water Commission's release of six more possible sites on the Sunshine Coast, Bribie Island, Brisbane and North and South Stradbroke Island.
Anna Bligh says the new facility may never go ahead.
"The water commission has identified six possible sites for a possible desalination plant in 20 to 30 years' time," she said.
"As a community we need to be having that discussion now.
"We only need one site, not six sites, and we've been honest with the community and said here are the six possibles."
2:45 AM, March 30, 2008
Courier Mail:
Expect soaking rain in 2009, says forecaster
March 30, 2008
WET weather will ease in coming months but return with a vengeance next summer, says a prominent long-range forecaster.
Brisbane's Haydon Walker said the flooding that affected much of the state this year was likely to be repeated in the early part of 2009.
"(It) will be a copycat of 2008, all over Queensland," said the son of legendary forecaster Lennox Walker.
Mr Walker uses sunspot and solar radiation activity as well as past weather patterns for his predictions. Both he and the Bureau of Meteorology expect below-average rainfall for southeast Queensland in April, May and June, but a wet autumn in the state's north.
"The northern districts will get good rainfall for April and probably into May," he said.
"The southeast looks promising for the middle of winter, then it fades away again before good storm rains at the end of the year. And then we brace ourselves for January.
"We've been in a fair few years of drought. But we've had a good top-up so far and we're going to have another top-up at the end of this year and the beginning of next year."
Prospects of below-average rainfall in the southeast during autumn means Level 6 water restrictions are likely to continue for much of the year.
The Queensland Water Commission will ease the restrictions when Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine dams go over a combined level of 40 per cent.
But the dams have been just below 39 per cent and SEQWater believes at least 80mm of rain is needed to get the levels over the 40 per cent trigger point.
Meanwhile, the State Government's $7.6 million cloud-seeding trial ends its first stage this week.
Paul Brady, managing director of MIPD, the firm doing the seeding, said yesterday: "We're seeing good results out there as we're seeding the clouds. We're definitely seeing clouds begin to rain and grow visibly bigger as we're conducting the seeding operation, and it's falling in the catchment areas."
Data collected will be analysed over the coming months before the cloud-seeding flights resume over the catchment areas in October.
Dr Sarah Tessendor, the operations director of the four-year research program, said there had mostly been wet conditions since the cloud seeding began in January.
"The abnormally wet year has given us many opportunities to study rain formation in the area," she said.
"Thus, we have collected a nice scientific data set to analyse over the coming months.
"However, in order for us to best understand if cloud seeding will be effective in the Brisbane area, we need to also collect data during more typical drier conditions."
3:13 AM, March 30, 2008
Quest News:
Environmentalist backs desal plants
31 March 2008
BRIBIE ISLAND: An environmentalist has backed plans to build a desalination plant on Bribie Island.
Bribie Island Environmental Protection Association president Ian Bell said, with climate change, desalination was the only 100 percent secure water source.
Mr Bell, an environmental engineer specialising in water supply, thought the potential for environmental damage was limited, especially if renewable energy was used to supply the power-hungry process.
He said the brine produced by the process would be completely dissipated within 150m if the ocean outfall was far offshore, as at the Gold Coast plant currently being built.
The draft South East Queensland Water Strategy identified State land on Bribie Island as one of six possible sites for desalination plants to secure the region's water needs after 2028.
The Queensland Water Commission (QWC) report also says a purified recycled water plant could be built to enable wastewater from Sandgate and Pine Rivers sewage treatment plants to augment water from North Pine Dam (which supplies part of Caboolture).
State Member for Pumicestone Carryn Sullivan said she had concerns about the environmental impacts, but was pleased the QWC was looking at sites away from urban areas.
She said QWC experts told her desalination plants could be powered by renewable energy.
Sites proposed for desalination plants include Bribie's surfside, the mouth of the Brisbane River, the Sunshine Coast and North and South Stradbroke islands.
4:44 PM, April 01, 2008
Courier Mail:
Anna Bligh tells Chinese about Queensland's water plan
April 02, 2008
PREMIER Anna Bligh has made the extraordinary claim that the world could learn from her Government's response to southeast Queensland's water crisis and is promoting its efforts in China.
Ms Bligh yesterday said the lessons for the international community from the Queensland experience were beyond infrastructure investment and extended to redefining the entire community's attitude to water use.
The Premier's controversial comments were made in Beijing where she has begun a 13-day trade mission on which she is accompanied by her husband, senior public servant Greg Withers, as well as business leaders.
However, her claim that the Government's handling of water should draw international interest has been lampooned by the Opposition, which suggested the only thing the Chinese could learn from the Queensland experience was how not to manage such issues.
Ms Bligh met officials from China's Ministry of Water Resources who signed a memorandum of understanding with the State Government-funded International Water Centre.
She said the sharing of "Smart State water management know-how" was recognition at an international level of her Government's efforts tackling climate change.
"While it has been a very difficult experience, we have also learnt many valuable lessons related to conservation, storage and use of water," Ms Bligh said.
The comments were made despite regular criticism for acting too late on water and forcing southeast Queensland residents on to draconian restrictions.
Opposition deputy leader Fiona Simpson accused Ms Bligh of trying to sell a message overseas that no one would buy at home.
"China can definitely learn what not to do from the Queensland Government, which is: do nothing about water supplies for a booming population until there's a crisis, then deny there is a crisis and when all the water starts to run out madly build infrastructure at the highest possible cost and inflict harsh water restrictions on the people," she said.
Ms Bligh also brushed aside criticism of Queensland's suite of international trade representatives.
Unveiling plans for a temporary two-person office in Beijing during the Olympics, she said former NSW premier Bob Carr had been wrong to say state trade offices were redundant. His comments simply showed how Queensland's economy was better than its NSW equivalent.
12:21 AM, April 02, 2008
The Chinese are chuckling into their wontons.
12:23 AM, April 02, 2008
ABC News:
Toowoomba council interested in retaining water assets
Mon Mar 31, 2008
Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) says it would make sense if it were to continue owning and maintaining the city's water assets.
Water commissioner Elizabeth Nosworthy says no decision has been made on a state takeover of Toowoomba's dams, while a pipeline that is being built from Wivenhoe to the city will not be part of the Government's south-east water grid at this stage.
TRC acting chief executive, Phil Spencer, says while it would be powerless to stop the Government from taking control, maintaining the status quo is the best option for residents.
"That's exactly why the Government's set up the new regional councils, to allow them more grunt to actually make big decisions and actually plan for the community the way they should be," he said.
7:31 AM, April 02, 2008
Post a Comment
<< Home