A select committee has been established by the South Australian government (Legislative Council) to examine the water needs of the Eyre Peninsula. Its terms of reference include the evaluation of the feasibility and impact of a desalination plant at Port Lincoln. Unresolved impacts include:
- discharge of hypersaline brine into the nearshore waters adjacent to a dedicated aquaculture zone
- potential toxicity of maintenance chemicals (including chlorine) discharged twice daily into nearshore waters during operation of the desalination plant
- entrainment of the larvae of mussels and fish in the intake of the desalination plant
- environmental disturbance combined with climate change e.g. harmful algal blooms.
More details can be found in the publicly available submission below.
Dr Paul McShane Submission to the Select Committee on the Water Supply Needs of Eyre Peninsula YMH
