Work to construct Western Australia’s biggest desalination plant could begin in two years.

Speaking at the 2024 Pilbara Summit, Daniel Lambert, managing director of Legacie Water Infrastructure Developers, said that the plans to construct the 150-gigalite Ngarluma Water Desalination Project are currently being prepared for submission to Western Australia’s environmental regulator EPA Western Australia.

Construction could begin as early as 2026 with first water expected in 2029, according to a report in the National Indigenous Times.

The project will be located at Balla Balla – about 1,600 kilometres north of Perth in north-west Westen Australia.

Designed as a ‘common user’ facility, the plant will provide desalinated seawater to clients within the Pilbara region. This is Australia’s biggest resource region and the world’s biggest region for iron-ore production.

It will help to promote sustainable development by reducing the region’s reliance upon groundwater extraction.

If constructed, the plant will be the largest desalination plant in Wester Australia.

It will have three times the average 50GL held by the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant, which supplies about 15 percent of the water supply to Western Australia’s capital city Perth.

The project is also claimed to be the first desalination plant in Australia to be developed in partnership with a First Nation’s organisation.

It is being delivered through a partnership which involves the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation along with Legacie Water Infrastructure Developers and SUEZ Australia and New Zealand.

It’s location, 10 km west of the Balla Balla River, has been selected for its access to seawater, proximity to the Maitland and Boodarie strategic industrial areas, and proximity to infrastructure such as the North-West Interconnected System, a proposed port export facility and the Pilbara Energy Pipeline.

Early cost estimates range from $4 billion to $5 billion.

(image source: Legacie via LinkedIn

Lambert said the project’s importance should not be underestimated.

“The Pilbara is thirsty to supply resources, it’s thirsty to supply upcoming projects around hydrogen and green steel manufacturing, it’s thirsty to supply the growing communities we’ve heard about, and it’s thirsty in terms of potential for the agricultural industry,” he said.

To read more, see the article in the National Indigenous Times.

 

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