WA desal plant gives 50bn litres of water

A new desalination plant has been officially opened in Western Australia's southwest to ease the reliance on dams in a region which is projected to get drier.
WA Water Minister Bill Marmion said the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant (SSDP) was being officially opened three months ahead of schedule and would soon produce 50 billion litres of freshwater a year.
He said on Friday that the plant, near Binningup in the state's south, had been built within the $955 million budget and had already been supplying water for the Integrated Water Supply Scheme (IWSS).
The plant meant there would be less reliance on dams and groundwater supplies, which had suffered due to lower than average rainfall, the minister said.
"Construction of the SSDP and its associated integration works has been the largest and most complex infrastructure project the Water Corporation has ever delivered," he said.
But Opposition Leader Eric Ripper said that when Labor first talked about a water crisis in the early 1990s, Colin Barnett, now premier, derided him for it and refused to acknowledge a crisis.
Mr Ripper said the Barnett government's biggest contribution to Perth's water security was an uncosted, unfeasible canal to bring water from the Kimberley to WA's south.
"Those concerned about Perth's water supply can thank Labor.
"Labor governments have built and funded two desalination plants which together will provide one third of the city's water needs," Mr Ripper said.
"I'm glad the government were so happy about opening a plant which they complained about for so long."
Mr Marmion said the focus was now on expanding the desalination plant, to double the capacity from 50 billion litres to 100 billion litres a year by the summer of 2012-13 to work around the rainfall shortage.