PERTH DESALINATION PLANT BREACHES ENVIRONMENTAL GUIDELINES - 18th April, 2008
'The Water Corporation has been forced to slash production at its Kwinana desalination plant after oxygen levels in Cockburn Sound fell below the minimum levels set as part of the project’s strict operating conditions'.
> Click here for the full story
ARE AUSTRALIANS SAFE AT THE BEACH? - 1st April, 2008
The Clean Ocean Foundation has released a report into the status of bacterial water quality standards for recreational waters in Australia. This document is part of the the Clean Ocean Foundation National Outfall Database initiative and is available below:
> Click here for full press release
> Click here for 1st state review document
EASTERN TREATMENT PLANT TRIAL BEGINS - 28th Feb, 2008
The Eastern Treatment Plant has begun trialling treatment methods to be used in it's upgrade that will produce Class A recycled water by 2012. "Not only will we increase the volume of recycled water than Melburnians have access to, but also we improve the ocean water quality at Gunnamatta where this treated water is currently discharged," said Victorian Water Minister Tim Holding.
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SILICONE FOULS BEACHES - The Mail, 6th Feb 2008
 < Click here for full news article
'The Environment Protection Agency is investigating silicone flakes washed up at Gunnamatta Beach....'
PORT PHILLIP BAY POLLUTION - Clean Ocean Media Release, 10th Jan 2008
James Evans, Club Captain of Mordialloc Lifesaving Club, had to make the decision to cancel a training day due to obvious pollution in the water at Mordialloc Beach. Events like this have raised serious concerns about the safety of swimmers in Port Phillip Bay following heavy rain.
> Click here for complete press release PDF
DESALINATION ESS MUST BE CONDUCTED - Clean Ocean Media Release, 20th Dec 2007
The common misconception that the brine stream byproduct of desalination is 'just salt' has been challenged by warnings of heavy metals and industrial chemicals in the discharge. Comprehensive Environmental Effects Statements must completed before any deaslination plant can be constructed anywhere on Australia's coastline & the more environmentally friendly alternative of water recycling must first be considered.
> Click here for complete press release PDF
UTILITIES ARE WASTING OUR PRECIOUS WATER - The Age, 14th Dec 2007
 < Click here
'The Melbourne Water Corporation sends almost 300 gigalitres of partially treated waste water into Bass Strait each year even though the water could be recycled for Melbourne's industry belts. Discarding this treated water is akin to sending all of Melbourne's bottles, cans, papers and cardboard to landfill instead of recycling them'.
> Click here for the full story
A NEW AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT - 30th Nov 2007
Prior to the elction, the Australian Labor Party outlined a range of responses to address Australian coastal issues.
DESALINATION PLANT WONTHAGGI, VICTORIA - 18th Nov 2007
'Much is unknown about the environmental impact of the $3.1 billion plant to be built by 2011. An environmental impact analysis has yet to be done. '
PULP MILL & NEW BASS STRAIT OUTFALL APPROVED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT - 5th Oct 2007
'Concerns focus on the impact on Bass Strait of 64,000 tonnes of effluent being dumped each day. Oceanographer Stuart Godfrey and two other scientists told Dr Peacock's committee that toxic effluent would wash ashore.'
'The federal environmental guidelines allow for dioxins to be dumped at a rate of 3.4 trillionths of a gram per litre. But the mill plans to dump 73 million litres of effluent a day into Bass Strait.'
> Click here to read 'Pulp mill can pump dioxins under new guidelines' - The Age, 21st August 2007 > Click here to help with the campaign to oppose the pulp mill
OUTFALL PLANNED FOR EVAN'S HEAD, NSW - ABC, 2nd Aug 2007
'The Evans Head water committee says the decision to go ahead with plans for an ocean outfall near the northern New South Wales town's main beach is hypocrisy'.
> Click here to read the full story
GOULBURN PIPELINE - Bendigo Advertiser, 26th July 2007
"Dedicate the $750 million for the pipeline to harvesting stormwater and recycling operations such as the 28 gigalitres going into the ocean at Gunnamatta."
> Click here to read the full story
Editorial, The Age, 20th June 2007
'Recycling uses less than half the energy of desalination. Because it does not require an ocean outlet to discharge brine wastes, the plant can be much closer to the city it supplies. Recycling would end the pollution from ocean outfalls discharging partially treated sewage from Melbourne's Eastern and Western treatment plants — the amount of water flowing from the Gunnamatta outfall is roughly the same as the desalination plant will produce.'
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