Water restrictions, desal warning for Melbourne after blaze near dam

Melburnians could be drinking water from Victoria's desalination plant – or even be put on water restrictions – if a fire on the banks of a major water catchment east of the city is not quickly brought under control, the Water Minister has warned.

Victoria's desalination plant in Wonthaggi could
 be used to make up for lost water supply.CREDIT:

Lightning sparked a bushfire about a week ago in thick forest in the Baw Baw National Park, about three hours’ drive east of Melbourne.

Tough terrain has made fighting the fire almost impossible, and the blaze has slowly spread to the edge of the Thomson Reservoir, the largest of Melbourne's water catchments. 

The Thomson makes up about 60 per cent of Melbourne's total storage capacity.

Ash and runoff from the fire was placing that water supply at risk, Water Minister Lisa Neville told media on Friday, soon after taking a flight over the blaze.

Read the story from The Age by Liam Mannix and Simone fox Koob - “Water restrictions, desal warning for Melbourne after blaze near dam.”

Desalination plant a $5 billion conundrum

Victoria's as yet unused $5 billion desalination
plant near Wonthaggi in the state's south east.

The capacity of Victoria's desalination plant could be expanded by 50 billion litres a year if Melbourne's water storages continue to experience big falls recorded in recent years.

Melbourne is using 416 billion litres of water a year - the highest consumption in a decade.

A risk management framework developed by Melbourne's water businesses shows the city is entering the "action" zone that includes an order of water from the desalination plant and "augmentation decisions to maintain water security".

Read Jason Dowling’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Will Victoria's desalination plant need to get bigger?”

(“Conundrum” might be the best word to describe Victoria’s as yet unused desalination plant near Wonthaggi in the state’s south east.

Victoria needs the potable water the plant can produce because of droughts brought on by human-induced climate change and yet the coal-fired power the desalinization plant needs worsens the reasons for its need. The adage of a “cat chasing its tail” appears to apply.

Yes, this is a wicked problem – we need the water, but the power we produce to secure that water worsens the problem that has caused the water shortages in the first place.

We need to approach the problem from a different perspective and rather than aggravate the essence of the trouble, that is burning more fossil fuels as we attempt to live life in a “business as usual” way, we need to recast and reshapes our lives so that we reduce our water demands and rather than spending some $5 billion on something that will only worsen what exists.

Victorians need to limit and reduce their water demands and spend with enthusiasm on building a renewable energy grid throughout the state – Robert McLean).