Two months after the Queensland government took receipt of the Tugun desalination plant, it will be mothballed amid a state awash in water.
The troubled $1.2 billion plant — which was to be the jewel in the crown of southeast Queensland’s $6.9bn interconnected Water Grid of desalination, recycled-water facilities and dams — will stop producing desalinated water by the end of the year.
It will function weekly only to keep its membranes flushed and in working order for emergency supplies. Should the facility be required, government officials say it could return to full functioning within 72 hours.
The government bureaucracy that operated the plant, WaterSecure, will also be merged with dam authority SEQWater next July, after the entities cost Queensland taxpayers $477 million in the past two financial years.
The changes are expected save the average Queensland household $5 a year in bulk water charges. Tugun’s plant has been a controversial venture since opening early last year, with the Bligh government refusing to accept handover until leaks, rust and maintenance issues were rectified.
The Veolia Water plant was built to produce up to 132 megalitres of purified water daily into the grid, but since being handed over to the government it has operated at one-third of its capacity.
A spokesman for Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson said Veolia Water would not be able to receive compensation for the plant’s mothballing under current “flexible” contractual arrangements. Veolia Water did not return calls from The Australian yesterday.
Mr Robertson said the government had delivered water security for the region but the current abundance of supplies had sparked a review of the water facilities.
“We are now delivering a more cost-efficient water supply operation that will result in lower bulk water charges than previously forecast,” Mr Robertson said.
The daily output at a recycled water plant at Bundamba will also be cut to half its 20ML capacity, and its potential 100ML-capacity Gibson Island plant will also be “on standby”.
Treasurer Andrew Fraser said the review of bulk water assets would save $18m each year with the scrapping of the planned Traveston Dam and the desalination plant on standby.
Acting Liberal National Party leader Lawrence Springborg said the plant was a “multi-billion-dollar white elephant from day one” and the water grid had delivered “very little water and a lot of pain”.
He said there remained a place for the desalination plant, but only in a water crisis, given the extra cost of desalinated water, which uses 21 times the electricity of traditional water storage.
The state government took over bulk water assets from local councils and created new bureaucracies under a 2007 plan.
In South Australia, the government will to go ahead with its $1.8bn desalination plant, which will be operational from April. Water Minister Paul Caica said the plant’s activity would not be scaled down, despite recent rain.
