I just received this and didn't realise some of these facts about the impact of the proposed desal plant. This bit is most disturbing "a deoxygenated layer that sits on the sea floor which will block oxygen to the marine flora and fauna and kill them off (e.g. seagrasses, prawns, scallops, squid eggs)" Its true about the already degraded gulf. I remember as a kid jumping off of 6ft high piles of washed up seagrass on Henley beach (which is where I grew up) after winter storms. Ain't none of that seagrass there now! There was a lot more fish about and none of that slime in the water in summer..
Read about it below and turn up at the beach at Brighton on Sunday if you are able. Might be some local wind after
or perhaps that day trip to Normanville on the other thread?
POP
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 10:30:53 +0930
From:
[email protected]To:
[email protected]Subject: [edosa-list] FW: Desal protest - Sunday 6th 10 for 10.30 @ Brighton Beach - pass it on
"Adelaide will only survive if enough people come together and actively work to protect and restore the water resources. It's time to give something back to nature." Maude Barlow, The Advertiser, 7 June 2008
Do you love the beach, coast and lifestyle that the Gulf St Vincent provides?
Do you realise the gulf, already seriously degraded from at least the last 50 years of colonising Adelaide, is about to be given its last death knell by having an inappropriate desalination plant put in it?
How will this happen?
? 30 billion litres of high saline water per year, "brine", will become a deoxygenated layer that sits on the sea floor which will block oxygen to the marine flora and fauna and kill them off (e.g. seagrasses, prawns, scallops, squid eggs).
? The stratification because of the denser brine on the sea floor has the potential to modify marine currents (having huge implications to the health of the gulf).
? The gulf is in serious strife already from the waste that is still discharged into it today. Its physical shape and low circulation keep discharges close to the shore, hence the serious strife already of huge seagrass loss and water quality problems.
? The brine is mixed with the chemicals and heavy metals used in the production of freshwater.
Save Our Gulf Coalition Inc. says the proposed desalination plant is a knee-jerk reaction after years of inaction, without clear and transparent scientific and economic studies, ignoring that the discharge will be into an enclosed marine environment rather than to the open ocean (all interstate desal plants discharge into the open ocean). In other words, it is ill considered, costly, environmentally damaging and threatening to the social and economic benefits we enjoy from the gulf.
? The site proposed, Pt. Stanvac, is highly contaminated and will need to be remediated (cleaned) at great expense potentially to the tax payer (e.g. a highly toxic petrochemical plume, sludge ponds).
? An additional 25MW of base load power will be required by the plant. This has implications for the generation and transmission/distribution capacity and will add to the capital cost of the plant indirectly.
? The plant will need to run continuously ensuring costs will be incurred even if rainfall improves. This will be a sunk cost equal to 1/3 of the state's budget, or equivalent to the entire health budget.
? The plant will cost $1.1 billion (and what are the running costs?). Yet the estimated cost of recycling storm and waste water to produce more water is $400 million! Also, Perth's desal plant only cost $400 million and it's also using wind power!
? All the costs associated with bad planning, lack of foresight, accidents, excess power loads etc will be reflected in our water bills which will rise steeply.
? The ecological damage to the Gulf will threaten the commercial fishing industry, the recreational fishing industry, the diving and other marine recreational industries.
? Loss of quality of the beaches will affect tourism attractiveness and coastal housing values.
? The membranes that will be used will have to go to landfill as they can't be reused or recycled.
160+ GL of wastewater currently gets poured into the gulf every year. This water could be reused while also relieving the gulf as urged by The Adelaide Coastal Water Study (November 2007). The desalination plant will only create 50 GL per year.
It is time sensible, sustainable, sound and cost-effective solutions to our problems were used. If Adelaide is to be saved it is up to us. Toward this end pleasejoin us for a Photo shoot on the beach!
Where? Brighton Beach,
Sunday, 6th July 2008 at 10:00 am for 10:30 (unless there is driving rain or wind)
Meet at Bindarra Reserve Adjacent Brighton Surf Life Saving Club.
See:
www.whereis.com/sa/brighton-5048/esplanade?id=15DFA8E98EDC19Please bring placards saying "Save Our Gulf" or "No Desal Plant" if you can!
RSVP:
[email protected] *Please pass this email on to as many of your friends as you can who may be interested!
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