The people of Eyre Peninsula were able to voice their opinions on the desalination plant at an information session headed by Urban Development Minister Nick Champion at the Port Lincoln Yacht Club last Wednesday.
After many concerns regarding the desalination plant being located at Billy Lights Point, Mr Champion said the session offered people a great opportunity to express their views.
“It’s always important to give the community a chance to express their views in an open forum, where they get a pretty good run-up at telling the minister what they think,” he said.
“The reason we did it for water security for Port Lincoln is because we knew there was a long and controversial history regarding water security and the desalination plant in Port Lincoln.
“We thought having a specialist forum where people can let me know what they think was an important part of our democracy and part of the state government.”
Mr Champion said it was hard to get a true cross section of public opinion out of one meeting.
“You get it out of seeing people at these forums, bumping into them at the pub, going out and meeting different groups and giving people the opportunity to come and see you,” he said.
“You really have to do many things and not just one meeting to get a view of public opinion.”
After hearing locals say a dominant influence in the decision to put the desalination plant at Billy Lights Point was the low cost, Mr Champion said cost was always related to different works.
“Cost is always related to the engineering works, the infrastructure works and they have to go into any proposal,” he said.
“What that reflects is actually time and energy and the practicality of sites.
“Cost is not just an issue in terms of money, it is a reflection of the amount of work and effort that would need to go into different sites, so cost is a metric but people also need to understand it is a metric of practicality.”
Resident John Hyde said administration bodies in relation to the desalination plant had been leading people “up the garden path”.
“Government members have been listening to experts who are saying everything’s alright,” he said.
Mr Hyde said the Uley Wanilla Basin was historically the first basin that had the water pumped out of by the government and used to run at a measured rate at 200 megalitres a year on top of the ground, which is 50 million gallons.
“They pumped the basin dry and it went from about 2200 megalitres capacity and I believe it’s now down to 20 and that’s just one of the basins they’ve stuffed up and they should be accountable for what they’ve done,” he said.
While Mr Hyde admitted to not being an expert on seawater he said he was surprised the desalination plant was not put down the other end of Tulka.
“There’s an existing pipeline that goes to North Side Hill, right alongside and there’s a powerline there,” he said.
“The water can be pumped over the hill into the Southern Ocean.”
Mr Hyde said in his opinion this strategy of a desalination plant near Tulka could be beneficial for multiple reasons, as it could be a barrier where a vermin proof fence could go and with lots of acres they could reintroduce the wildlife to the national parks, which would be a positive.
