It has been declared Australia’s most outstanding example of construction excellence at the 2008 Australian Construction Achievement Awards

A 144 ML per day seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant – the third largest in the world was built in an 18-month period and on a footprint of only 6.3 hectares and included the installation of intake and outfall pipelines and an intake receiving structure within the protected waters of Cockburn Sound.

The judges said that the processes for this plant were far more complex than for any conventional water treatment plant, partly because of issues relative to the corrosive nature of seawater, and also in producing a pristine quality of seawater to feed the reverse osmosis system. This was a was a large, complex, fast-tracked project.

The Judges stated that “The project achieved full environmental compliance while incorporating sustainability through design and equipment and is now exceeding the client’s performance requirements”. “It also demonstrates the viability both economically and environmentally of desalinisation.”

The key environmental challenges such as consultation, approvals and regulations, concentrate management and marine monitoring, energy and aesthetics were paramount during construction and will continue throughout the life of the plant.

Technorati Tags: Perth Saltwater Desalination Project, Australian Construction Achievement Award, seawater reverse osmosis desalination

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 6:54 am and is filed under water resources & pollution. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.