The Water Corporation has released Tender Documents inviting suitable organizations to register their interest for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a nominal 10ML per day desalination plant in Collie.

Western Australia already has a Seawater Desalination Plant, located at Kwinana, 40 kilometres south of Perth, which started supplying water to the Integrated Water Supply Scheme in November 2006. It was the first plant in Australia to provide desalinated water for large-scale public consumption.

It is the Water Corporation’s biggest single water source providing some 17 per cent of Perth’s water needs. On average, the plant produces up to 130 million litres of drinking water per day, or 45 gigalitres per year.

In 2009 approval was given for another desalination plant, the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant, in the Shire of Harvey. The desalination plant will be situated on Taranto Road, between Binningup and Mylaup, and water from the plant will be fed into the Integrated Water Supply Scheme near Harvey, approximately 30 kilometres inland.

The plant will produce 50 billion litres (gigalitres) of drinking water annually with a capacity to expand to 100 gigalitres per year. Construction and operation of the plant will have minimal impact on the environment, and stringent monitoring will be undertaken to help minimise any impacts.

To ensure effective and efficient distribution of water from this new source, a pump station is being built at Ravenswood. The pump station will have the capacity to pump 125to 265million litres of water daily from the Stirling Trunk Main to the Tamworth Reservoir, and 30 to 130 million litres of water each day to Serpentine or North Dandalup Dam via a new, connecting pipeline.

At the completion of the project in late 2011, on average, more than 30% of WA’s water supply will come from climate independent sources with the current Perth Seawater Desalination Plant currently contributing 17%.

In October 2010 the WA government has endorsed a proposal to build a new seawater desalination plant as the next major drinking water source for the West Pilbara. Premier Colin Barnett said the new seawater desalination plant and associated infrastructure for the West Pilbara would cost approximately $370million and would be commissioned in three years.

Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls said the primary purpose of the new seawater desalination plant was to ensure water supplies for the longer term for residential and small-scale industrial development. It was expected that the major industrial operators would source and fund their own water supply needs under this scenario.

The Tender Documents for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a nominal 10ML per day desalination plant in Collie are available from the Water Corporation.