❓ The Minister addresses concerns about the Water Corporation's impact on Cockburn Sound, refuting claims of excessive nitrogen discharge from the desalination plant and highlighting the benefits of the Kwinana wastewater recycling plant.
AnsweredQoN 508Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
COCKBURN SOUND - WATER CORPORATION OPERATIONS
Will the minister inform the house of how the Water Corporation’s operations are affecting Cockburn Sound? Mr J.C. KOBELKE
Will the minister inform the house of how the Water Corporation’s operations are affecting Cockburn Sound? Mr J.C. KOBELKE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. People who read The West Australian of 17 August and the headline “Cockburn Sound ‘is near collapse’” would have read another example of a quite misleading exaggeration of the facts. The article went on to claim, as an example of the worsening condition of Cockburn Sound, that some 17 tonnes of additional nitrogen from the desalination plant would go into Cockburn Sound each year. I do not know where The West Australian got the figure of 17 tonnes of nitrogen, because, quite simply, it is false. The best advice I have is that the management issues concerning the desalination plant could involve the discharge of 1.5 tonnes of nitrogen into Cockburn Sound each year. What the article in The West Australian did not focus on is the fact that the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is stopping some 60 tonnes of nitrogen from going into Cockburn Sound each year. Major manufacturers used to discharge their effluent into Cockburn Sound. That effluent now goes into the waste water treatment plant and, through reverse osmosis, the plant is producing pure water, which is sent back to industry, with a lesser amount of water going into the sewerage system and thus less nitrogen going into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : Did you read the article yourself? Mr J.C. KOBELKE : I did. Did the Leader of the Opposition? He was misled, was he? He believed that 17 tonnes of nitrogen was being discharged into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE replied: I thank the member for the question. People who read The West Australian of 17 August and the headline “Cockburn Sound ‘is near collapse’” would have read another example of a quite misleading exaggeration of the facts. The article went on to claim, as an example of the worsening condition of Cockburn Sound, that some 17 tonnes of additional nitrogen from the desalination plant would go into Cockburn Sound each year. I do not know where The West Australian got the figure of 17 tonnes of nitrogen, because, quite simply, it is false. The best advice I have is that the management issues concerning the desalination plant could involve the discharge of 1.5 tonnes of nitrogen into Cockburn Sound each year. What the article in The West Australian did not focus on is the fact that the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is stopping some 60 tonnes of nitrogen from going into Cockburn Sound each year. Major manufacturers used to discharge their effluent into Cockburn Sound. That effluent now goes into the waste water treatment plant and, through reverse osmosis, the plant is producing pure water, which is sent back to industry, with a lesser amount of water going into the sewerage system and thus less nitrogen going into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : Did you read the article yourself? Mr J.C. KOBELKE : I did. Did the Leader of the Opposition? He was misled, was he? He believed that 17 tonnes of nitrogen was being discharged into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
I thank the member for the question. People who read The West Australian of 17 August and the headline “Cockburn Sound ‘is near collapse’” would have read another example of a quite misleading exaggeration of the facts. The article went on to claim, as an example of the worsening condition of Cockburn Sound, that some 17 tonnes of additional nitrogen from the desalination plant would go into Cockburn Sound each year. I do not know where The West Australian got the figure of 17 tonnes of nitrogen, because, quite simply, it is false. The best advice I have is that the management issues concerning the desalination plant could involve the discharge of 1.5 tonnes of nitrogen into Cockburn Sound each year. What the article in The West Australian did not focus on is the fact that the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is stopping some 60 tonnes of nitrogen from going into Cockburn Sound each year. Major manufacturers used to discharge their effluent into Cockburn Sound. That effluent now goes into the waste water treatment plant and, through reverse osmosis, the plant is producing pure water, which is sent back to industry, with a lesser amount of water going into the sewerage system and thus less nitrogen going into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : Did you read the article yourself? Mr J.C. KOBELKE : I did. Did the Leader of the Opposition? He was misled, was he? He believed that 17 tonnes of nitrogen was being discharged into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr P.D. Omodei : Did you read the article yourself? Mr J.C. KOBELKE : I did. Did the Leader of the Opposition? He was misled, was he? He believed that 17 tonnes of nitrogen was being discharged into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE : I did. Did the Leader of the Opposition? He was misled, was he? He believed that 17 tonnes of nitrogen was being discharged into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE replied: I thank the member for the question. People who read The West Australian of 17 August and the headline “Cockburn Sound ‘is near collapse’” would have read another example of a quite misleading exaggeration of the facts. The article went on to claim, as an example of the worsening condition of Cockburn Sound, that some 17 tonnes of additional nitrogen from the desalination plant would go into Cockburn Sound each year. I do not know where The West Australian got the figure of 17 tonnes of nitrogen, because, quite simply, it is false. The best advice I have is that the management issues concerning the desalination plant could involve the discharge of 1.5 tonnes of nitrogen into Cockburn Sound each year. What the article in The West Australian did not focus on is the fact that the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is stopping some 60 tonnes of nitrogen from going into Cockburn Sound each year. Major manufacturers used to discharge their effluent into Cockburn Sound. That effluent now goes into the waste water treatment plant and, through reverse osmosis, the plant is producing pure water, which is sent back to industry, with a lesser amount of water going into the sewerage system and thus less nitrogen going into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : Did you read the article yourself? Mr J.C. KOBELKE : I did. Did the Leader of the Opposition? He was misled, was he? He believed that 17 tonnes of nitrogen was being discharged into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
I thank the member for the question. People who read The West Australian of 17 August and the headline “Cockburn Sound ‘is near collapse’” would have read another example of a quite misleading exaggeration of the facts. The article went on to claim, as an example of the worsening condition of Cockburn Sound, that some 17 tonnes of additional nitrogen from the desalination plant would go into Cockburn Sound each year. I do not know where The West Australian got the figure of 17 tonnes of nitrogen, because, quite simply, it is false. The best advice I have is that the management issues concerning the desalination plant could involve the discharge of 1.5 tonnes of nitrogen into Cockburn Sound each year. What the article in The West Australian did not focus on is the fact that the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is stopping some 60 tonnes of nitrogen from going into Cockburn Sound each year. Major manufacturers used to discharge their effluent into Cockburn Sound. That effluent now goes into the waste water treatment plant and, through reverse osmosis, the plant is producing pure water, which is sent back to industry, with a lesser amount of water going into the sewerage system and thus less nitrogen going into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : Did you read the article yourself? Mr J.C. KOBELKE : I did. Did the Leader of the Opposition? He was misled, was he? He believed that 17 tonnes of nitrogen was being discharged into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr P.D. Omodei : Did you read the article yourself? Mr J.C. KOBELKE : I did. Did the Leader of the Opposition? He was misled, was he? He believed that 17 tonnes of nitrogen was being discharged into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE : I did. Did the Leader of the Opposition? He was misled, was he? He believed that 17 tonnes of nitrogen was being discharged into Cockburn Sound. Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr P.D. Omodei : I do not think the article says what you say it says. I think you should read it again. Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE : It does. Page 10 states that the desalination plant will add 17 tonnes of nitrogen a year. That statement, like a lot of others in the story, is absolutely wrong. We know that each year the current recycling at the Kwinana waste water recycling plant is saving 60 tonnes of nitrogen that would have otherwise gone into the sound. It is being captured and is not going into the sound. In addition, the government is looking to double the capacity of that plant. As a result, the flow of nitrogen into the sound will be further reduced by taking water from industry, treating it - recycling it - and returning high-quality water to industry. The Water Corporation is monitoring and conducting other work in preparation for the opening of the desalination plant. Since April last year, it has had four in situ probes measuring the dissolved oxygen in the sound, giving us a much better scientific understanding of the quality of the water in the sound. On the basis of that information, I have great confidence that the operation of the desalination plant will not adversely impact on the environment. That is a matter on which scientists will put forward their views, and the proper process of approval is then required. All the scientific evidence that has been provided to me gives me great confidence in the work being done. We will then be vindicated, and, in the driest year on record, be able to produce 45 gigalitres of water into the integrated water scheme without having to rely on rainwater. That will be a great boon at a time when we are experiencing an extremely dry winter.
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