Salt in the Wound?
Desalination in Victoria - Disaster?
The Situation:
It has also been announced about this plan that the Desalination Plant will generate up to 150 Billion litres per year.
Already, there are two companies funding this building project, AquaSquare and BassWater, and have funded somewhere between 1 and 2 billion dollars toward this desalination plant.
In other words, they would like to create a "Drought Proof Melbourne". And while, sure, at first glance, this idea looks as though it would help the cities of Melbourne thrive by producing this massive amount of water yearly, how does it effect us?
So, what's the Issue here?
Most Victorians will agree; Desalination is way too costly, and should only be used as a last resort.
This is solely because of it's extreme cost to run the plant, paying for electricity, which is highly demanded (an estimated 90 Megawatts a year), which will unfortunately hinder Victoria's efforts to create a lower amount of Greenhouse Gas emissions.
Most also will agree with the fact that the state government is making the decision far too quickly; What's the point of making a desalination plant that's going to cause a skyrocket in carbon emissions, with the intentions of creating more water supplies, when the pollution will decrease rainfall anyhow?
This plant would no doubt somewhere along the lines do some harm to the wildlife, what with deadly chemicals being used in the plant, and also the massive amounts of draining from the bay. And also, in exchange for the water, it's going to completely eat away at energy supplies.
How's all this come about?
If given time, the government could possibly come up with a better idea, that would impact the environment much less.