The New South Wales Government has confirmed Sydney's $2 billion desalination plant will be shutting down at the end of June  following  a two-year proving period.

 

Finance Minister Greg Pearce has told the ABC it could be around three years before the facility operates again.

He said that the plant will not be recommissioned until the dams drop below 70% capacity, and will then operate until they reach the 80% level.

“We acknowledge the many responses to the draft Strategic Regional Land Use policy and will continue to refine the policy over the next few months to ensure NSW has the strongest regulation of mining and gas extraction in Australia, if not the world."

Murray-Darling Basin states are squaring off in the lead up to the COAG meeting this Friday which will  discuss the revised Murray Darling Basin Plan that was released at the end of May.

The Federal Government has launched four new teaching units to help students across the country learn about the importance of water.

The largest study ever undertaken in Australia to investigate and address public perceptions of drinking recycled water will be led by UNSW’s Journalism and Media Research Centre (JMRC).

 

The research will form the basis of a national education and engagement program which will give Australians access to evidence-based information about the production and consumption of recycled water.

 

UNSW’s Faculty of Engineering and School of Public Health and Community Medicine, along with 30 national and international organisations, are collaborating on the $10 million research project which is funded by the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence.

 

Academic leader of the project and Director of the JMRC, Professor Catharine Lumby, said the outcomes of the cross-disciplinary investigation will be significant for the water industry globally.

 

“Recycled drinking water is already accepted in other countries around the world. In Australia, local policies, stigmas and public perceptions have often prevented recycled water being considered for potable use,” said Professor Lumby.

 

Professor Judy Motion, a leading expert in science communication based at the JMRC, said the project is designed to engage the public in a dialogue, rather than railroad them into drinking recycled water.

 

“Our aim is to find the best way of communicating new information to the Australian public, educators and decision makers by exploring the growing role that online and social media play in science communication.”

 

Associate Professor Greg Leslie of the School of Chemical Science and Engineering acknowledged Australians wanted more information about drinking recycled water and the process of producing it.

 

“A key part of this project will be investigating what Australians want to know and how scientists can better communicate issues of reliability and quality control,” said Professor Leslie.

 

 The $10 million funding to UNSW is part of The Australian Government’s $20 million commitment over five years to the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence, through the Water for the Future initiative.

For more information on the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence visit www.australianwaterrecycling.com.au.

Sydney Water has completed a $6.9 million   2.1 kilometre section of the Canterbury Bankstown Submain upgrade, which has significantly boosted the long term reliability of the system.

The Western Australian Department of Water is calling for comment on a new state-wide guideline aimed at clarifying water management regulations for the resources industry.

The Queensland Government has announced it will slash the number of water supply bureaucracies servicing South East Queensland from four to one.

The Federal Government has passed the National Water Commission Amendment Bill through Parliament, meaning the commission will continue its role of overseeing the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) national water agenda.

The Queensland Government has announced an immediate halt to the Solar Hot Ware Rebate program, saying the move will save the state an estimated $10 million in savings. 

The South Australian Government has announced it has committed $2 million for the Fight for The Murray campaign in its bid to bring the community’s opinion to the forefront of the national debate.

The Federal Government will commit $1.5 million to the expansion of water efficiency projects in communities in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The Board of ACTEW Corporation has decided it will fully integrate the water and sewerage operations currently undertaken by ActewAGL Water Division into ACTEW from 1 July 2012. Water and sewerage will be managed under the trading name of Actew Water.

The National Water Council’s (NWC) CEO James Cameron has called for State Governments to meet their obligations under the National Water Initiative by providing Indigenous Australians with ready access to water resources for cultural and economic purposes.

The Queensland Government has introduced the South East Queensland Water (Distribution Retail and Restructuring) Amendment Bill, which will enable Council-owned water businesses to manage their workforces in the same way as any other organisation.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has urged the Federal Government to conduct modeling for an increase to 4,000 gigalitres, saying that failure to do so would limit the capacity to understand the trade-offs of a lower environmental flow.

The Federal Government has announced approval of Western Australia’s compliance and enforcement plan to protect the state’s water sources from illegal use.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) of New South Wales has announced Sydney Water’s prices for the four years to June 2016, with the prices determined to go up by less than the inflation rate over the period.

Melbourne Water has announced a price freeze following a huge public backlash following its attempts to recoup $306 million in lost funds through a $88 per year per customer price hike.

Environmental conservation group Friends of the Earth (FoE) has released a report investigating the risks and impacts associated with pesticides in Melbourne’s drinking supply. The report focuses on the city’s Sugarloaf Reservoir, which supplies 1.5 million Melbournians, which, according to the FoE, has recorded 31 positive pesticide samples.

The Australian National University is set to host a $100 million world-leading supercomputer that will enable data-intensive research into climate change, earch science and national water management.

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