Compliance Report - July 2009

A report was commissioned by WaterSecure into compliance with the Project Brief and related matters in the Gold Coast Desalination Plant. The plant is currently operating at 33% capacity and is expected to be in a position to resume production at 100% capacity in July 2009 if required. The Gold Coast Desalination Plant has already provided about 4.5 billion litres of high-quality drinking water to the Water Grid.

Download the Gold Coast Desalination Report Compliance Report ( 173 KB).

Project overview

The Gold Coast Desalination Facility can provide up to an average of 125 megalitres a day of drinking water to South East Queensland communities.

The Gold Coast Desalination Project is a $1.2 billion Queensland Government funded initiative to construct the first large scale water desalination plant on the eastern seaboard.

The project, located at Tugun, can provide an average of 125 megalitres per day of fresh water to residents and businesses in South East Queensland. The desalination project includes a desalination plant, marine intake and outlet tunnels and a 25 kilometre pipeline connecting the plant to the South East Queensland Water Grid.

Desalination produces drinking water by removing dissolved salts and other minerals from seawater. This process is the finest level of filtration available and supplies clean, safe drinking water.

Desalination technologies have been used successfully for more than 20 years. There are at least 20 smaller scale desalination plants in Queensland alone.

As water supply from a desalination plant is not dependent on climate, a sustainable supply of water is available even when there is no rain.

Interesting facts

• At full operation, the desalination plant can supply up to 615,000 water users based on Target 200.
• Approximately 340 megalitres of seawater is extracted in order to produce 125 megalitres of drinking water.
• The project supplied its first water into the grid on 26 February 2009.

Further information

For more information about the Gold Coast Desalination Facility, visit the Gold Coast Desalination Project website, or download the latest Gold Coast Desalination Fact Sheet.