THE consumer bill for the nation’s largest desalination plant is...

THE consumer bill for the nation’s largest desalination plant is set to rise to more than $2 billion,

New figures obtained by The Weekend Australian show the Victorian desalination plant, southeast of Melbourne, will have cost water users $1.2bn by the November 29 state election, rising to $2bn by the end of the next financial year.

The cost has soared, despite no water having been drawn from the facility since its opening in 2012 and dams being more than 80 per cent full.

The full cost of building, running and maintaining the plant is forecast to climb markedly in the next three decades.

The Victorian experience has been replicated across Australia’s east and south. Plants in Victoria, NSW, Adelaide and on the Gold Coast cost more than $10bn to build but their operations have been effectively mothballed.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...-a-drop-of-water/story-e6frgczx-1227094416376