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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 616 asked in the Legislative Council on 13 September 2017 by Hon Jim Chown

Parliament: 40 Session: 1


WATER CORPORATION — DESALINATION PLANT
616. Hon JIM CHOWN to the minister representing the Minister for Water:
As stated by the Minister for Water in question without notice 437, and I quote —
      �we anticipate that with 25 billion litres of streamflow into Perth's dams each year, a new source will not be required to be in place for at least five years.
According to Treasury, due to lower than anticipated rain over previous years, the Binningup desalination plant will need to increase its production to its maximum output of 100 billion litres of potable water per annum. In fact, Treasury said a costly source such as a new desalination plant may need to be fast-tracked. In light of this information and in response to the previous answer, does the minister consider fast-tracking the commissioning of a new desalination plant to be before his stated time frame of at least five-years?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question. The answer is based on information provided by the Minister for Water. He says that, as previously stated in the answer to question without notice 437, ''water supply planning is not static''. Water supply planning is affected by a range of factors, including but not limited to, demand and climate. In this light, assuming 25 billion litres of streamflow each year, and the Southern Seawater desalination plant operating at full capacity, the answer to the question is no.