sydney desalination

While building a desalination plant and levying every household $60 per annum to make it profitable might appeal to some, it would seem that the idea lacks the support of the boffins.

There is a fine line between developing infrastructure and nepotism.

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/print/0,20285,17492077-5001022,00.html

Water boss: desalination not my idea

By ANNA PATTY

December 08, 2005

THE head of Sydney Water yesterday failed to name a single water expert who agreed with the desalination plant proposal.

And he admitted the decision to build the plant was the State Government's, not his.
Facing a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the proposed desalination plant at Kurnell, Sydney Water's managing director David Evans said it was his role to "get on with service delivery".

"We are not a policy advising entity," Mr Evans said.

Australia's leading water experts including Professor Nick Ashbolt and Greg Leslie from the University of NSW have been critical of the Government's decision to build a desalination plant ahead of doing enough to recycle storm and waste water.

Mr Evans faced a grilling over his previous comments at a public water forum in August when he suggested a desalination plant should only be built as a last resort in a severe drought, when dam levels dropped by 10 per cent a year.

The next day, Premier Morris Iemma gave a commitment to building the desalination plant "drought or no drought".

Mr Evans was yesterday asked whether the Government's decision to build the plant was purely political.

Upper House MP Charlie Lynn asked Mr Evans whether he could name any independent water experts who supported the desalination plant proposal.

"The question of support or otherwise I think is not all that relevant to be quite honest," Mr Evans replied.

"What is relevant is the capacity of governments to make decisions to manage the risk the community faces and that accordingly we have done the feasibility study that we were asked to do.

"We have shown that it is feasible and Government has decided, based on that, it wishes to proceed and that's where it begins and ends for us."

Mr Evans said the decision to build the desalination plant was not his, but made by the Government.

"As far as we are concerned at Sydney Water, once such a decision is made, we accept that, we get on with it because our job is to provide the service to the standard that is required by our regulator and the Government," Mr Evans said.

Asked if it was a decision he would have made, Mr Evans said: "My role is to be providing the services. It's not my role to make risk judgments on behalf of the broader community.

"If that was my role I wouldn't be in the position I'm in."

The Daily Telegraph

This report was published at dailytelegraph.news.com.au

Terms | Privacy policy Copyright 2004 News Limited. All times AEST (GMT+10).


Billy