A desalination plant is a possibility for the Northern Rivers, along with more underground bores and a dam at Dunoon, as Rous Water puts all options on the table for the long-term future water supply for the Northern Rivers. The only thing that’s been ruled out is potable water reuse.
The Future Water Strategy is to be completed by late 2012, with a project reference group (PRG) meeting regularly to discuss options and provide advice on how the strategy can take shape.
The PRG has been meeting since 2009 and is now looking at augmentation for the current supply of water from Rocky Creek Dam and the Wilsons Rivers. One option is a desalination plant, another is to increase the number of bores in the region from five, and geological surveys are beginning on the Dunoon dam site to see if the rock strata is suitable for the size of the dam being mooted.
Rous Water’s technical services director Wayne Franklin said all of the Future Water Strategy ideas had to be closely looked at and the “triple bottom line” of social acceptance, environmental impact and cost benefits would largely decide what became reality and what was deemed unfeasible. He said potable water reuse for instance was something Rous Water “just couldn’t do”.
“We tried to prove potable water reuse was viable but we’ve clearly been told by the Health Department they do not support potable reuse. Because of that lack of legislative support to do it and perhaps the fact that elements of public acceptance aren’t there, it means we can’t go further with that,” Mr Franklin said.
He stressed that the Dunoon dam, a desalination plant and more bores to augment groundwater resources were all very much ‘ifs’ at this stage, with the geological surveys shedding light on whether the dam could be built.
He said it was a matter of weighing up the pros and cons of each strategy and comparing their long-term viability.
“You might go okay, the dam’s feasible but it’s so many million dollars and get so many megalitres. We might then say, we don’t need that much, so we might go and build a small desalination plant that can be turned on and off instead. But then you have to look again at the triple bottom line and the greenhouse gases generated in creating a desalination plant. You have to get all those components out on the table and see what will suit the future. We have a commitment to look at everything the community suggests.”
He said whether the Dunoon dam was built depended on a variety of factors.
“Building a dam could be downright unfeasible… it could be geological, which is not likely, but it could be to do with heritage or because of flora and fauna reasons,” he explained. “We could find fatal flaws that mean we can’t build there so we have to look at other options in the interim that are smaller and more affordable, such as working on demand management.”
Rous Water recently announced changes to its demand management program, upping the incentive for people to connect to rainwater tanks. As of July 1, Rous Water amended its rainwater tank rebate program and now offers a $500 rebate (formerly $120) for connecting a rainwater tank to the toilet and a $500 rebate (formerly $50) for connecting the tank to a washing machine.
While Rous Water already offers rebates for businesses, targeting high water users, they now also offer a new community (not for profit) rebate program so community groups also have access to water saving rebates, especially for things like amenity blocks, grounds and club houses.
“Our demand management program is an integral part of our business already and we make decisions to keep that viable,” Wayne said. “We currently have programs aimed at householders because in terms of total water use, that’s the big sector, and we have programs aimed at businesses to reduce water consumption.
Rous Water and Richmond Valley Council are also jointly investigating the potential benefits to connecting the Casino (Jabour Weir) and Rous Water distribution networks.
“At the moment Casino’s water supply is totally autonomous, it sits on the Richmond River and draws water from there whereas Rous Water draws from the Wilsons River… we’re looking at, if we combined them, is the sum of the two greater than the individual water supplies,” he said. “We’re not sure what the answer will be but it wouldn’t be particularly hard to connect the two water supplies, from a physical point of view, so the cost benefit could be there. The infrastructure to make it happen is relatively straight forward.”
He said the hydrological analysis would look at rainfall and how each water supply behaved during times of drought to assess whether one might be able to augment the other during times of water shortage.
The next meeting of the PRG is in September. To be involved in the development of the strategy, find out more information, or provide feedback phone 1800 159 882 (freecall) or emailfuturewaterstrategy@terracecomm.com.au .
