Why is the Project needed?
South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf and Far North are rich with untapped strategic and critical minerals including copper, magnetite, and other resources that are essential for global decarbonisation. However, the lack of sustainable water sources in the region means industries that could tap into these resources are constrained from establishing or expanding their operations.
Northern Water will help address the water needs of industry in these regions, enabling South Australia to prosper from the global demand for critical minerals and support the growth of the State’s renewable energy and emerging sustainable manufacturing sectors.
Why isn't the government building a pipeline to connect the existing Lonsdale desalination plant to the Far North and Upper Spencer Gulf?
The Adelaide Desalination Plant (ADP) was built to provide water security for metropolitan Adelaide, especially during drought periods.
Pumping water from ADP to northern South Australia was one of several options initially considered but was quickly discounted because during times of drought domestic water use would be prioritised, making it unavailable for industrial use.
How is the Project currently funded?
The budget for this pre-delivery and procurement phase of the Project is jointly funded by the Commonwealth, South Australian Government and industry.
What will the procurement process inform?
The competitive procurement process will result in a market-tested proposal for a Design, Build, Operate and Maintain (DBOM) contract which will, in part, inform a Final Investment Decision.
Why does northern South Australia need more water?
The national and global transition to renewable energy requires significantly increased volumes of minerals such as copper. Increasing production in northern South Australia will become critical to meeting this demand, but doing so will require large volumes of water.
Why do we need a desalination plant to meet increased demand for water in northern South Australia?
Industries in northern South Australia and the Upper Spencer Gulf are currently reliant on water from the Great Artesian Basin and the River Murray.
Desalination provides the opportunity to decrease reliance on the Great Artesian Basin and River Murray.
Will the plant provide water to the communities of Port Lincoln and the lower Eyre Peninsula?
SA Water delivers essential water services to South Australians, including the community of Port Lincoln. A desalination plant is currently being built at Billy Lights Point to supply Port Lincoln with safe and clean drinking water.
Why has Mullaquana Station been chosen as the location for the desalination plant?
The desalination plant site selection process was comprehensive and included input from key stakeholders, findings from environmental and technical investigations, economic and cost-comparisons and a data driven Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) to evaluate and compare location options.
Mullaquana Station is the chosen location for Northern Water because it:
- meets Project strategic objectives
- performs best in relation to construction and operation costs
- unlocks economic growth and proximity to local workers, businesses and services
- performs best in relation to reduced greenhouse gas emissions
- has lower construction complexity and risk.
For more information, view the Project Overview.
What standard of water will the desalination plant produce?
Northern Water, as a bulk desalinated water provider, will not be registered as a drinking water provider under SA Health regulations. Water will be provided for industrial use.
What are you doing to safeguard the environment?
The desalination plant design and approach to construction and operations is governed by our commitment to protect the marine and terrestrial environments of the Upper Spencer Gulf and the State’s Far North.
Learn more about how we are protecting the environment.
Will marine life be pulled or trapped into the intake pipe of the desalination plant?
Seawater enters the intake structure at extremely low speeds, lower than the Gulf’s natural currents, which allows local marine life to swim around the intake. Water then flows by gravity through the intake tunnel towards the shoreline, to a large concrete tank, at which point it is pumped to desalination plant.
We’re undertaking detailed modelling of the intake structure to better understand larval tracking and entrainments to determine potential impacts. Currently the reference design shows the intake structure located approximately four kilometres offshore in deep water, away from seagrass nurseries and further reducing the likelihood of impacts to marine life and organisms.
Will the return water from the desalination plant affect the marine environment?
We are designing the outfall diffusers to ensure that the return seawater to the Gulf maintains the ambient marine environment.
The outfall diffusers are located further away from the intake area to minimise the risk of concentrated seawater from being drawn back into the desalination plant and to avoid adversely impacting dense seagrass.
The outfall diffusers are specifically designed to release return seawater into the Gulf in a way that allows it to quickly and evenly disperse into the Gulf’s ambient conditions including salinity levels, temperature and natural currents.
Extensive hydrodynamic modelling and design of how the plant will operate in the Gulf is being undertaken to ensure effective dispersion of return seawater to meet environmental requirements. The hydrodynamic modelling is also being independently reviewed by experts from the CSIRO, University of NSW and SARDI.
How is Harmful Algal Bloom being considered as part of the marine assessments?
Desalination plants and return seawater discharges are not linked to increased algal growth. The Northern Water desalination plant will adhere to environmental legislation regulated by the Environment Protection Authority, which ensures the appropriate management of return seawater discharge.
Our environmental marine studies consider Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) as it continues to alter the marine environment, but also how it may impact our proposed desalination plant operations.
We continue to collaborate with other agencies to share learnings so that our design and construction considers Harmful Algal Bloom as part of our environmental assessment and management.