How robust is the environmental impact assessment process in South Australia? Behind the scenes of the Adelaide seawater desalination project |
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| Institution: | 1. Valoriza Agua, Paseo de la Castellana, 83-85, 28046 Madrid, Spain;2. University Institute of the Water and the Environmental Sciences, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, Alicante, Spain;1. Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), NSW 2007, Australia;2. School of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, Korea University, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea;1. Department of Environmental Hydrology & Microbiology, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research (ZIWR), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sde-Boker 84990, Israel;2. National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa 31080, Israel;1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China;2. School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Perth, WA 6009, Australia;3. School of Earth and Environment, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia;4. Institute of Water and Energy (IWE), Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Ave., Tehran, Iran;5. School of Petroleum Engineering, The University of New South Wales, 330 Anzac Parade, Kensington, NSW 2033, Australia |
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| Abstract: | This work tests the robustness of policies and procedures designed to protect South Australia's marine environment through a case study of the Adelaide Desalination Plant—the most expensive (∼A$1.8 billion) infrastructure project in South Australia's history. Although this project has been subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)—the highest level of assessment in Australia—on inspection it appears that the current operating licence for the desalination brine discharge breaches Government approval conditions and ignores the collective expert scientific advice of the project's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Hence, the EIA process in South Australia for this project is flawed. Improvements could be made to the South Australian system by including the requirements for operating licences as an integral part of the EIA. |
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