Desal cracks
Re "Call to close plant" (Leader, April 30). In my working life as a water engineer I managed feasibility studies of various water use schemes in western NSW.
In 2006 as a volunteer with an environmental group, I helped prepare their submission outlining reasons why the then-proposed desalination plant at Kurnell should not proceed.
As part of this exercise I sifted through boxes of government and ministerial documents on the desalination proposal. These had been made available under freedom of information laws.
I personally also made representations to the Department of Planning and to Cherie Burton who later sent me a copy of the response from David Campbell, then minister for water utilities.
Campbell's letter addressed none of the issues I raised.
The main points I raised were:
- The Carr government had plenty of time to plan ahead for Sydney's increasing population but failed to do so. The government should have thoroughly examined the technical, financial, economic, environmental and social feasibility of all available water options for Sydney and, following true public consultation, should have initiated a program based on prioritising and developing the best option. Instead, the government proceeded with the desalination project on an ad-hoc basis using special legislation to avoid the need to publicly justify and prioritise options or permit open and true public consultation.
- From 2001 to 2005 the Carr government [used] $460 million from Sydney Water's revenues - money that could have enabled more sensible water management options to be examined and enacted.
John Forrest, Kyle Bay
Electricity Commission
The April 30 front page article provided interesting financial information on the Kurnell desalination plant.
If used it would need enormous amounts of mainly coal-generated electricity.
Western Australia's desalination [plant] uses 100 per cent renewable wind and solar electricity.
The Kurnell plant was fast-tracked onto the historic Kurnell peninsula. The delivery pipelines were fast-tracked under Botany Bay, along streets, footpaths, river banks instead of slower, underground construction.
Premiers O'Farrell and Baird later leased this unproductive, loss-incurring facility to a mix of locals and foreigners for 50 years.
A big lesson for NSW Parliament from this ongoing financial disaster is to consolidate NSW electricity into a Government Electricity Commission.
All MPs must stop the proposed lease and/or sale of the "poles and wires" public assets.
J. Brett, Miranda
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