Drink up: Desalination securing our water future

As our population grows, so does our demand for clean and safe drinking water.

Seawater desalination plants like our one here in Sydney are becoming an increasingly important part of meeting that demand both here in Australia and around the globe.

Australia has several large-scale seawater desalination plants, many of which were built in response following the devastating Millennium drought amid concerns about drinking water supplies in major population areas.

Along with the Sydney Desalination Plant, the other major desalination plants are:
• Victorian Desalination Plant, Wonthaggi, southeast of Melbourne
• Perth Seawater Desalination Plant, Kwinana
• Southern Seawater Desalination Plant, Binningup, south of Perth
• Adelaide Desalination Plant, Lonsdale
• Gold Coast Desalination Plant, Tungun

Growing global market
The world’s first large-scale desalination plants were built in the 1960s and now, according to the International Desalination Association, there are about 22,000 desalination plants supplying drinking water to more than 300 million around the globe.
The number of desalination plants is expected to rise in response to population growth, more frequent droughts, and shrinking groundwater reserves. In fact, the World Economic Forum has estimated that by 2030 there could be a 40 per cent shortfall in freshwater supplies.

Custom Markets Insights also estimates that the global water desalination market will have a compound annual growth rate of about 12.8 per cent between 2024 and 2033, while its market size expands from $US20.6 billion to $US44 billion.
“Advancements in desalination technologies, membrane materials, energy efficiency, and process optimization contribute to the expansion and efficiency of water desalination facilities worldwide,” it says.

“With the increasing demand for freshwater in municipal, industrial, and agricultural sectors, governments, utilities, and private enterprises are investing in desalination projects to augment water supplies, mitigate water stress, and ensure sustainable water management.”

Major players
China, India, Singapore, South Africa, United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates are just some countries that have turned to desalination to secure their drinking water supplies.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has little freshwater supplies, has some of the largest desalination plants in the world and produces about one fifth of the world’s desalinated drinking water.

Israel is another major player, with five large desalination plants supplying 85 per cent of its drinking water. At least another two plants are planned to open in the coming years.

As these countries have been expanding their production of desalinated drinking water, the technology behind desalination has evolved and helped to lower the costs. Some estimates suggest that the cost of desalination has more than halved in the past three decades.

Future developments
In Australia, plans are underway to build new desalination plants at Alkimos, in Perth’s north, at Belmont in NSW’s lower Hunter region, and at Billy Lights Point and Spencer Gulf on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. In Queensland, the government has proposed expanding the Gold Coast desalination plant and is investigating a new facility for the state’s southeast.

Here in Sydney, the NSW Government asked SDP in October 2023 to begin preliminary investigations into the possible expansion of our plant at Kurnell. The Plant was originally built with expansion in mind and the expectation that in the future it could produce up to 500 million litres of drinking water a day – double its current capacity.

It is estimated in Australia in the next 10 to 15 years that approximately 2,500 million litres a day of desalination capacity will be built for drinking, mining and industrial purposes.

Plans for new desalination plants are also afoot in several countries including Algeria which has five plants under construction with another seven to follow between 2025 and 2030. Egypt also has five new desalination projects underway, while in the Philippines pre-development works began in early 2024 on a new large-scale plant for Iloilo City on the island of Panay.

Meanwhile in Spain, authorities in drought-ravaged Catalonia are buying mobile and floating desalination plants to secure local water supplies in drought affected areas. On the north of Costa Brava, 12 small mobile desalination plants are being built to supply 5% of the area’s water needs while a floating desalination plant is planned for the city of Barcelona.
Desalination is one effective way of securing drinking water supplies against increasing demands due to population growth, warmer weather and urban greening projects along with the effects of climate change. Here at SDP, we look forward to playing a greater role in Sydney’s water security well into the future.