Pumping water from interstate to South Australia has been a recurring idea, but a Melbourne company says its new proposal to pump water from Tasmania to Whyalla is feasible and affordable- not just another pipe dream.
Melbourne scientific organisation, Docklands Science Park, has developed a plan to use a six metre wide synthetic tube to transport up to 500 gigalitres a year of water from Tasmania to South Australia.
Director of the company, John Martin, said both the Tasmania and South Australia governments have shown interest in the plan, which is estimated to cost around $2 billion annually.
He said Tasmania was the ideal source of fresh water, with the southern state only using 1000 gigalitres per year, while 45,000 gigalitres of its fresh water flowed out into the ocean.
Mr Martin said water would be sourced from the Western side of Tasmania, first going through the hydroelectricity plant, then travelling to South Australia via Victoria.
“It can go to Adelaide, then across to places like Roxby Downs and also up to the Moonta Well in the Cooper Basin.”
While some members of the public have responded with scepticism to the latest pipeline idea, Mr Martin insisted this plan was more feasible than the steel pipelines proposed in the past.
“What we have here is something you can simply roll out, and that makes it very very cheap by comparison.”
The company said users of the water would pay for the water cost, including major mining companies active in the state, and maintenance costs would reportedly be ‘next to nothing’.
“You shouldn’t have any maintenance costs worth talking about for the first 35 years anyway, and the way its constructed you can actually zip it together, so if you get a leak, you unzip that section, repair it, and zip it back again.”
For companies such as BHP Billiton, Mr Martin said their pipeline plan was not only less environmentally impacting and healthier that its proposed desalination plant, but far more economical.
“The desalinated water is something like 50 times the cost and you’ve got health risks associated with desalinated water due to the boron.
“BHP would be charging about $5 a kilolitre, and you would be expecting something between 10 and 20 cents a kilolitre for this water.
The company still has a significant way to go before the plan becomes more than a pipe dream, and they are currently putting together a business plan and further costings for the South Australian Government.
While some might question that companies’ claim that their pipeline could solve the notorious Murray Darling Basin water problems, Mr Martin was certain it was an obvious, feasible solution.
“Archimedes would have looked at it and said, ‘well what took you so long’.”
