South Australia’s water minister, announce’s New Brackish-Water Desalination Plant

On 1 May 2013, South Australia’s water minister, Ian Hunter, announced that a brackish-water desalination plant to deliver improved water quality to the town of Hawker, in the Flinders Ranges 100km north of Port Augusta, had been approved for construction.

A final report to the state House of Assembly on the same day said that the reverse-osmosis plant would provide 500 m³/d with a target salinity of <600 mg/L.

Water supplied to Hawker is sourced from groundwater characterised by high total dissolved solids and hardness. At present, the water is treated by an iron-removal plant before being delivered to a concrete surface tank and then gravity-fed to the township.

Installation of a new 1,000 m³ treated water storage tank will be part of the new project, which will cost Aus$ 5.75 million (US$ 5.84 million).