☼ Wide Blue Ocean - Water Issues

News

Note this page is from July 2007
Current Data is Here

Victoria is running out of water and is now on Stage 3 water restrictions and different governmental groups are now starting to see the issues that they have been warned about for years. For example there is talk of using recycled sewage water and renewed talk about desalination. Councils have stopped watering trees and pools can no longer be topped up. The city fountains that were once a refuge from the blistering heat on very hot days have been dry for months.

If we use 2006 data to predict water storage levles over the next two years, the water could run out by the end of 2008.

The increase in storage levels in Jun/July 2007 is a result of a freak storm hitting the Hunter Valley region and dumping a huge amount of rain inland including in Victoria's catchments. The formation of that storm has used up the most of the residual summer energy in the Southern Pacific Ocean which will result in less than normal rainfalls for the rest of the year. Even with the most optimistic patterns, we expect the storage level increase to mirror 2003 with a 3 week lead.

Wide Blue Ocean supports desalination. To reverse the desertification of the highland areas of Victoria urgent action needs to be taken to provide the cities water from the ocean. Our calculations show that about 1/4 of the current consumption of the Melbourne metropolitan area must come from another source if the highlands are to remain viable farmland.

Wide Blue Ocean has an new technology that reduces the energy required to desalinate ocean water and is currently working on testing it in large scale production and preparing patent applications.

Currently we can desalinate ocean water with an energy cost of less than AU$.30 per kilolitre and we expect that to drop to under $.20 in full scale production.

We are currently planning a 4 million litre a day processing plant and we are looking for assistance in a few areas. We are currently looking for a location, financing options and a buyer for the water produced.

We need a location for the plant. It must be close to the bay and will require about 300 square meters of land or an area about the size of a net-ball court. We will also need a small amount of area to drill a salt water well which will use the sand as a filter to filter the water from bay. Those two areas should be within 500 meters of each other but that is not essential. A third area for storage tanks would be useful as well.

The water we produce won't be suitable for drinking water. While it will meet the quality standards, our tests won't be sufficient to certify it as drinking water since we mostly test for salt concentration. The water will be suitable for most industrial uses as well as watering lawns or gardens or filling swimming pools.

We are also looking at financing and grant options. Our plant will be a combination of leasing and traditional loans but grants will help reduce our costs.