Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/724419
Water. desalination + reuse September 2016 Market Opportunities 17 Au s t r A l i A M A r K E t O P P O r t u N i t i E s Policy and regs Mix of federal and state policy The six states of Australia – New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia – all have their own water policy, with its own particular rules on issues such as health and safety, water quality, effluent reuse standards, and spending. The situation echoes a 19th century Australian problem with railway gauges, whereby three different sizes of gauge were in operation across the country, preventing development of a unified national rail network. A er the Federation of Australia was formed in 1901, it took nearly a century until agreement on a standard gauge was reached in 1995. Right now, about 70 per cent of water services in Australia are in private hands. Federal oversight of water policy on certain issues is provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, led by Barnaby Joyce, member for New England, and deputy prime minister. Water politics Public view Water supply is a political hot potato in Australia. Genuine environmental and cost concerns are o en mixed up in party political battles, and politicians can be seen slugging it out in the various national and state media outlets. In a report on Australia's ABC network, Victoria's opposition party accused the state's incumbent administration, which placed the 2016-17 water order with the Victorian Desalination Plant, of doing so unnecessarily to justify the plant's existence, thereby wasting rate payers' money. The order added $12 ($9) to yearly household water bills. Western Australia water policy, including a new wastewater treatment scheme and possible expansion of the state's two desalination mega plants, is also hot news. The first project to recycle wastewater for potable use will be operational by the end of 2016, and aims to replenish the Gnangara acquifer with 14 billion litres of recycled water. An independent study commissioned by Water Corporation of Western Australia found that of 1,292 respondents, 79 per cent supported potable reuse. Players The people who drive the market Barnaby Joyce Minister of agriculture Joyce added water resources to his portfolio in September 2015. In May, Joyce unveiled plans for a $2 billion concessional loans facility to help state and territory governments to build dams, pipelines, and aquifer recharge projects. Marc Fabig Co-founder with his wife, Annie, of Australia's leading desalination provider Osmoflo in 1991, Fabig's work in the water industry won him an EY Central Region Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2008. Matt Brassington There's a lot riding on a smooth delivery for the man charged with overseeing the Victorian Desalination Plant's first big desalinated water order, but Brassington is clear that plant operator AquaSure is "committed to deliver". Perth Seawater Desal Plant was the first major SWRO plant Australia. Adelaide Desal Plant (right), open since 2011, can provide up to 100 gigalitres of water a year.