Types of Water Provision

for a Semi-Arid Region

Australia
A Report
[Writer]
[Institute]
[Date]
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction to Report ........................................................................................................................... 3
2. Background ........................................................................................................................................... 3
3. Water Provision Options ....................................................................................................................... 3
3.1. Reclaimed or Recycled Water....................................................................................................... 4
3.2. Desalination .................................................................................................................................. 4
4. Requirements ........................................................................................................................................ 4
4.1. Cost ............................................................................................................................................... 4
4.2. Environmental Impact ................................................................................................................... 4
4.3. Public Acceptance ......................................................................................................................... 4
5. Comparison and Evaluation of Options ................................................................................................ 5
5.1. Cost ............................................................................................................................................... 5
5.2. Public Acceptance ......................................................................................................................... 6
6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 6
7. Recommendations ................................................................................................................................. 6
References ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
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Report On Two Types of Water Provision for a Semi-Arid Region Australia

1. Introduction to Report

A very serious problem faced by arid and semi-arid regions is water shortage and Australia is
one of the countries characterised by semi-arid regions. These areas of the world are at greater
risk of shortage of rainfall, and the impacts drought inclines to be extremely serious for not only
the surrounding environment but also the communities depending on the land for food. The
reason behind this issue is the fast growing increase in population, thus use of water for farming,
industrial and domestic purposes has also been increased. Water provision has different ways but
two methods are known worldwide including desalination and waste water recycling.

This report aims to compare these methods of water provision for Australia and present the best
possible recommendations, as per the comparison of various factors including cost,
environmental impact and public recognition, about which methods will be appropriate for
Australia.

2. Background

Throughout the world, Australia is the driest populated continent and has the most unpredictable
climate, and is one of the highest water consuming countries (Williams, Rayner and Raynor,
2010). A big part of Australian outback (interior of Australia), surrounding the central regions of
desert, is located within the country’s semi-arid climate (Tingley and Shine, 2011). During the
last two decades, the government had major progress in the technology field related to appliances
of water provision, desalination technology and water recycling, leading to have more capacity
to purify the additional water (Radcliffe, 2010). Further, Australia needs to have a perfect blend
of technologies because no single technology will be enough.

Moreover, Canberra is the capital city of Australia which has at least eight water recycling plants
and the efficiency of this technology is much more at present (Radcliffe, 2010). Nevertheless, the
rainfall is in a fluctuating condition in all areas of the country (Vaze et al., 2011). This may lead
to some serious issues associated with shortage of water for domestic use, general water supply
for residential area and water for agriculture (Radcliffe, 2010).

3. Water Provision Options

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3.1.Reclaimed or Recycled Water

Water recycling is used as the generic term for water reclamation and reuse, where the water
comes out is known as recycled water (Mekala, 2007).

3.2.Desalination

Desalination refers to a process through which salt and other impurities are eliminated from the
sea and make it clear and suitable for consumption. This process is a sustainable and climate
independent water source. Distillation and reverse osmosis (OR) called the electrodialysis are
two most popular methods used to eliminate impurities, such as salt and other dissolved solids
from water (Stuetz, 2009). Through these processes, a sediment treatment filter is applied to sea
water with the aim of removing the larger particles. After that, RO process is allied. It implies
that water is passed through a thin film composite membrane under very high pressure and then
all the impurities including salt are removed. Subsequently, before water is ready to consume,
fluoride, chlorine and lime are included in it.

4. Requirements
4.1.Cost

There are two approaches, including the tangible cost and the intangible cost, to define the cost
of the project. For tangible cost, the total amount of money is invested in the project for
machinery, building materials of the plant and workers’ wages. The intangible cost means the
environmental impact led by the plant through which the environment and community are
affected and for this a cost is included to correct them.

4.2.Environmental Impact

For building a large project in a city, there is the potential of environmental impact due to the
project. As an instance, water contamination, air standard and land’s excavation. Thus, whenever
a project is planned and built in a region, considering the environmental impact is necessary and
for this a thorough evaluation needs to be done before project started.

4.3.Public Acceptance
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In the arid regions like Australia, one of the crucial factors is public acceptance in designing the
water system.

Government will have to gather public opinion because most infrastructures of water plants have
been built within or near residential areas. The people’s routine lives have been affected by this.
The residents have raised their voices and feedback. For this, the government needs to organise
some consultation meetings to gather residents’ opinion to address their concerns. The
importance of all this preparation work is much more because this approach has the strong
potential to develop a confidence in the community. Improper planning will affect the next
generation.

5. Comparison and Evaluation of Options

5.1.Cost

Queensland, the second-largest and third-most-populous state in Australia, as an example, has

both the desalination plant and recycled water project. The largest water recycling scheme in
Australia is the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project, and this project is also the third-
largest highly developed and sophisticated water treatment project worldwide (Solley et al.,
2010). In South East Queensland, around AU$2.5 billion was the total cost for building three
water retirement plants, which has the capacity to produce, on daily basis, up to 232 million
litters of purified recycled water (Meehan, Ormerod and Moore, 2013). On the other hand,
Tugun, Queensland, Australia has also a seawater desalination facility called the Gold Coast
Desalination Plant which involved a 1km marine intake and outlet tunnels, with pump station by
using the RO method (Water Technology, 2018). Only AU$1 billion was the cost of this project,
but the plant only produces 133 million litters of water daily (Water Technology, 2018).
Although a high cost is involved in recycling water, there is less amount of water comes out from
desalination compared to the process of recycling. Further, there are three treatment facilities for
the project of water recycling, but desalination has only one which is the Gold Coast
Desalination. Consequently, it can be said that water recycling is not costly, but comparative.

Use of chemicals, throughout desalination process, during various stages may be discharged in
the form of solution with the saltwater or may be discharged to a treatment facility. Water
passing through the RO treatment is more acidic and has the strong potential to negatively affect
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the distribution system. This drastic increase may also deadly affect the marine species by
changing migration patterns for fish, feeding grounds and critical habitat (Essalhi and Khayet,
2014). The use of water recycling option is effective because there is less chance of damaging to
the environment.

However, water recycling process has the potential to improve environmental outcomes for all
the plant and animal life, habitats and ecological processes (Radcliffe, 2010). The company
running this project will be able to provide an environment and approvals team to Department of
Infrastructure and Planning in order to carry out assessment of environmental and social impact
in early stages of the project.

5.2.Public Acceptance

At first, Australians did not accept recycled water project, as they think it is not suitable for
drinking because of dirtiness. However, people changed their thought once they experienced a
decade of low rainfall. Moreover, there can be two classes of recycled water, depending on the
guidelines defined by the State. In spite of the environmental impact, consideration of public
image in the county is important. People may be allowed by desalination to reflect of non-
environmental and pollution. A place with fresh air and less pollution is the preferred one for
people.

6. Conclusion

It has been found that to find a land in an arid or semi-arid region where a water supply system
can be installed have a variety of factors that need to be taken into consideration by the
government. The importance of government decision is much more in motivating a number of
public consultants to involve, in evaluating the project size affecting the environment and public
place, the capital amount to be invested and the project’s benefits to a region. Water recycling is
recommended in this case. Currently, almost all the governments are considering environmental
issues by making strategies to save the valuable natural resources and to eliminate pollution. The
option of water recycling has the potential to make sure expectation of ‘green environment’.

7. Recommendations
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It is recommended to the Australian government to motivate people by delivering the message to

save water. If people do not like to change their frame of mind, it can be imagined how many
facilities should be established to meet the water needs. In fact, in urban areas of any country the
people’s living standard is getting better with the passage of time. Majority of them may not
familiar with importance of natural resources. The end result will be in the decline of such
resources and the next generation will only face problems because they will have nothing. Not
only the water recycling system is enough, people still need to consider other alternative methods
which should be environmental friendly.
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References
Essalhi, M. and Khayet, M. (2014). Self-sustained webs of polyvinylidene fluoride electrospun
nano-fibers: Effects of polymer concentration and desalination by direct contact membrane
distillation. Journal of Membrane Science, 454, pp.133-143.

Meehan, K., Ormerod, K. and Moore, S. (2013). Remaking Waste as Water: The Governance of
Recycled Effluent for Potable Water Supply. Remaking waste as water: The governance of
recycled effluent for potable water supply Water Alternatives, [online] 6(1), pp.67-85.
Available at: http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/volume6/v6issue1/199-a6-1-4/file.

Mekala, G. (2007). Wastewater reuse and recycling systems: a perspective into India and
Australia. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute.

Radcliffe, J. (2010). Evolution of water recycling in Australian cities since 2003. Water Science
& Technology, 62(4), p.792.

Solley, D., Gronow, C., Tait, S., Bates, J. and Buchanan, A. (2010). Managing the reverse
osmosis concentrate from the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme. Water Practice and
Technology, 5(1), pp.wpt2010018-wpt2010018.

Stuetz, R. (2009). Principles of water and wastewater treatment processes. London: IWA.

Tingley, R. and Shine, R. (2011). Desiccation Risk Drives the Spatial Ecology of an Invasive
Anuran (Rhinella marina) in the Australian Semi-Desert. PLoS ONE, 6(10), p.e25979.

Vaze, J., Chiew, F., Perraud, J., Viney, N., Post, D., Teng, J., Wang, B., Lerat, J. and Goswami,
M. (2011). Rainfall-Runoff Modelling Across Southeast Australia: Datasets, Models and
Results. Australasian Journal of Water Resources, 14(2), pp.101-116.

Water Technology. (2018). Gold Coast Desalination Plant, Queensland - Water Technology.
[online] Available at: http://www.water-technology.net/projects/gold-coast-plant/ [Accessed
17 Mar. 2018].

Williams, N., Rayner, J. and Raynor, K. (2010). Green roofs for a wide brown land:
Opportunities and barriers for rooftop greening in Australia. Urban Forestry & Urban
Greening, 9(3), pp.245-251.