[호주] ‘기후독립적 물’에 중점

Australia's Water Corporation은 서부 오스트레일리아에서 차세대 기후독립적 수자원을 위한 다양한 옵션을 눈여겨 보고 있다. 기후독립적인 물공급을 보장하기 위한 10년 전략이 중반 정도 이르렀다.

Water Corporation의 최고경영자 Sue Murphy는 “다음 주요 물사업에 관해서 어떠한 결정도 이루어지지 않았지만, 우리의 담수화 플랜트의 확장과 지하수 보충 전략, 그리고 지하수 추출의 점진적 체수층 지하화를 지역사회의 물사용 절약을 실현해가면서 할 계획”이라고 말했다.
 
1년에 14조 리터의 식수가 보충되는 용량을 가진 지하수 계획의 첫 단계가 2016년 12월까지 완성될 계획이다. 이것은 발전된 폐수 처리 시스템을 사용하여 정화된 물을 생산하며, 나중에 식수로 사용될 수 있도록 체수층을 다시 채워준다.

[원문보기]

Australia's Water Corporation weighs the options for climate-independent water

Australia's Water Corporation is looking at "a range of options" for its next climate-independent source of water for western Australia, as it reaches the halfway mark of a 10-year strategy to ensure a climate-independent water supply.

Sue Murphy, chief executive of Water Corporation said that while “no decision has been made” about the next major water project, plans are in place to “expand our desalination plants, to trial a groundwater replenishment scheme, and progressively to shift our groundwater abstraction to the deeper aquifers, while working with the community to reduce water use.”

The first stage of groundwater scheme, which has the capacity to recharge up to 14 billion litres of drinking water a year, will be complete by December 2016. It uses “advanced” wastewater treatment to produce recycled water that is recharged into an aquifer for later use as drinking water.

“Perth and the south west of western Australia are among the areas on the planet that have been hardest hit by the drying climate,” said Murphy. “We are in the process of finalising planning for the next climate-independent source of water so that we can progress the regulatory and environmental approvals.”

Australia’s Water Minister, Mia Davies, quoted by ABC Online, said that the groundwater scheme was “probably” the next major climate-independent source of water for the region.

Western Australia’s two desalination plants in Kwinana and Binningup supply about half of the drinking water needs of Perth, or 145 billion litres a year, independent of rainfall.

“The two desalination plants have met all of our expectations as a safe, reliable and environmentally sustainable water source in our drying climate. They will continue to play a major role into the future by consistently supplying water to our customers,” said Murphy.

[출처 = Desalination & Water Reuse / 2016년 6월 10일]