Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) has released a report supporting Australia’s move to desalination amid concerns that the controversial Wonthaggi plant will not be able to perform as population growth combined with climate change continue to generate opposition.

The WSSA have released a report titled ‘Implications of Population Growth in Australia on Urban Water Resources’ which assesses the volume of water required to meet population projections in major cities.

WSSA Executive Director, Ross Young, said yesterday that the report has calculated the demand for water across Australia’s major urban centres based on population projections released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and maintains that the desalination plant will help meet any additional demand for water.

The report suggests the major cities will be faced with an additional water demand of 600 billion litres per annum by the year 2026 and 1,000 billion litres by 2056.

“In many respects population growth combined with climate change represents a ‘perfect storm’ for the urban water industry”, Mr Young said. Despite this, our cities will not run out of water. The last decade has demonstrated how quickly the urban water industry has been able to adapt to a drying climate by implementing a rage of measures on both the supply side and demand side of the water resources equation”.

However, protest groups are still concerned that a minimum energy standard has not yet been agreed upon with concerns about the plants energy usage and the subsequent effects this will have on the environment, with Victorian still reliant on coal, a major emitter of greenhouse gases, for its electricity generation.

To separate drinking water from salts and other wastes from sea water, a significant amount of energy is required. According to the WSAA, desalination plants use twenty-one times more electricity than conventional water systems to produce the typical amount of water that a family of four people uses every day.

The composition of the water from the Bass Straight which will be used at the Wonthaggi plant, will make the plant less energy efficient than plants in other Australian cities.

Director of Environment Victoria, Mark Wakeham has described the lack of strong commitment as “writing a blank cheque on behalf of Victorian consumers by not requiring a minimum energy performance”

Despite this, the report commissioned by the WSAA maintains that climate change has presented a challenge to Australians and “in all cases we have risen to these challenges, building new water sources and reducing our use of water to historically low levels”

Tim Holding, Victorian Minister for water has also shown his support suggesting that “The desalination plant…is our long-term insurance policy against drought and climate change”.

Mr Holding and Premier John Brumby yesterday inspected the Wonthaggi site and sying that the $3.5 billion plant was on schedule.

Melbourne’s plant at Wonthaggi is only one of multiple plants being built in Australia. Perth, which opened the nation’s first desalination plant in 2006 is now building its second. Sydney also has a plant which commenced operation earlier this year and a plant near Adelaide is still under construction

A total of $13.2 billion constructing the desalination plants, which WSAA’s Young has described as ‘the cost of adapting to climate change’.

Melbourne homes are expected to start receiving desalinated water from the plant by the end of 2011.       

END IN SIGHT FOR BORCHARDT LIBRARY REDEVELOPMENT

Chani Unger

The crisp, yellowing pages of ageing books may well be a thing of the past for La Trobe students, as the University’s Borchardt Library approaches the final stages of a $10 million redevelopment project.

More than 18.5km of books, journals and government publications that have not been borrowed in the last 10 years have been moved permanently to an off campus annexe in order to create space in the new look library.

There has also been a push for the digitisation of scholarly resources, with the acquisition of over 20,000 e-books and a constantly increasing number of full text databases and electronic journals.

Geoff Payne, Associate University Librarian, Infrastructure Services has set the completion of the project as one of his personal KPIs.

He says the project is a means of future proofing the library with universities competing for students by offering an attractive space to study

“The library is always trying to see into the future. Libraries used to be silent spaces…providing spaces for group use has been the biggest change. We are delighted to see the facilities being heavily used”, he said.

The $10 million redevelopment project funded by the University and the Australian Government’s Better Universities Renewal Fund (BURF), was sparked by global trends and changes in teaching styles.

The increased space created by the removal of books has allowed for the installation of 845 additional study seats, 100 additional study carrels and 70 more computer workstations.

Bachelor of Health Sciences and Master of Occupational Therapy student, Kat Schembri, looks forward to being able to do more research from home with the digitisation of resources and is also thrilled with the library’s new physical facilities.

“I can’t afford a laptop which means I have to wait in line for a computer…there is actually a spare computer now.”

Also included in the project has been the introduction of new learning commons as well as power and network facilities for students with laptop computers.

The new learning commons, located on level one of the library, have provided a real attraction to students who would not have otherwise made use of the library, such as first year Arts/Health Sciences student Emma Gerdtz.

“I think (the library) looks great and has given me more of an inclination to use the library… I never used the library before the opening of level one. The fact I don’t need to worry about finding a power switch for my laptop is fantastic. Also those conference rooms are a brilliant idea!”

While the physical structure of the library is not expected to reach completion until late October this year, library staff cannot wait until they can say “Goodbye and thank-you very much” to all the tradespeople who have been involved in the five stage redevelopment project.

It is hoped that the level one entrance to the library will be open by the end of September.