Sydney's water desalination plant.

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

Much of the infrastructure is in cement-lined cast-iron pipes. They would be destroyed very quickly if salt water was used. Secondly a lot of it is fairly leaky - to the extent salt water would quickly poison most of the land in Sydney.
In the long term it would also poison the acquifer that lies under most of the greater Sydney basin - and that is fresh water. Not exactly potable but it's good enough for watering market gardens.

So now that you have identified the problem all we need is to replace all the pipes with environmentally friendly plastic.

Alex

[Visionary (David)]

Originally Posted by casstony

I imagine it would be much cheaper to recycle sewage water than to build desal plants.

Yes!

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Visionary

Alex,

We are a desert continent and we don't recycle our water? Yet we have the temerity to describe ourselves as Green!
The Desal plant was never anything more than an exercise in political expedience by a desperate Gov without thought or care for the public cost, much like the NBN.

David

No no no ...yes.

Pink bats, cash for.clunkers.

But what do you do.

I drive past the road works up here...cast of thousands... resurfacing a road that was OK.
The back roads cry for attention but miss out.

The equipment ...well its all OK cause it keeps the money rolling...

One section must be a million dollar cost...steel beams to shore up the road ...I have driven past there for twenty years no sign of subsidence... But how should I know, maybe just maybe the effort was warrented...

Alex

[Wavytone]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I think Malcolm should go to the next election with a promise that under his government folk will get to drink recycled sewage.

If he promises to do that I would vote for him.

Alex

now you're making sense, god forbid !. In much of Europe water passes through 8 sets of kidneys before it is allowed to reach the sea.

[Wavytone]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

environmentally friendly plastic.

unfortunately plastic isn't environmentally friendly, nor last a very long time... and too easily broken by machinery or people digging.

Best choice IMHO is stainless steel grades 904L or RK65, which will still be intact when the sun boils earth dry in millions of years.

[xelasnave]

I have not figured out how much water the plant can supply ... Must look that up.
We may need another.

I have a nephew who works for the desalination mob I must let him know and he can put it in the suggestion box.

I think each house could have water.tanks but there would be health problems maybe.

Alex

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

unfortunately plastic isn't environmentally friendly, nor last a very long time... and too easily broken by machinery or people digging.

Best choice IMHO is stainless steel grades 904L or RK65, which will still be intact when the sun boils earth dry in millions of years.

I like that idea...so what company should I get shares in...

Plastic in our oceans apparently is a problem and I read someplace plastic mimics estrogen and all species are having.trouble creating males and all life will die off.

If that's true the desalination plant was definitely a.waste of money.

Alex

[xelasnave]

From the wiki entry

Controversies Edit

Water quality concerns regarding the proximity of the seawater inlet to the desalination plant to the nearby sewage ocean outfall.[31] Environmental economists from the Australian National University studied the project after its completion and determined that "it was a costly decision that did not need to be made while dam levels were high." [32] In 2014, it was reported that the desalination plant was costing the taxpayers $534,246 per day as the plant sits idle. This was the price that the NSW Liberal-National Coalition government agreed upon when they set the 50-year lease with the plant's owners upon privatisation in 2011. To turn off the desalination plant all together would cost an extra $50 million.[33]

.......

Five hundred grand a day?
Can that be correct.

Alex

[xelasnave]

If so that is $10 per man woman and child ...taking 5000000 as the population.

Alex

[Boozlefoot]

Most people in city environments have no idea regarding water usage. ( I have lived in city and bush scenarios, and been heavily involved in water infrastructure in capital cities.) Australia is fairly lucky as to the availability of relatively cheap water in its cities, and a larger use of water tanks would be a great advantage. My children were taught from an early age the actual value of water, and this is now being passed onto the next generation. Its not a case of rationing, more a case of "sensible" utilisation of our most valuable resource.

[lazjen (Chris)]

There are some places around that do recycle the water - maybe not directly back into the drinking water supply, but back to dams. From memory, Brisbane and Toowoomba do this (or have done it in the past - not sure now the water supply is back up again).

What I'd like to see is more interconnection between the various dams/rivers/desalination plants to be able to shift surplus water to places that need it. Imagine if we could pump extra water into the Murray-Darling system for example. (Mind you, the cynical side of me would then expect more of the corruption/greed that was recently exposed).

We fail as a country as we tend to react for our water - acquire through random events. Instead we need to take control and ensure we can generate any shortfall and get it where it's needed.