Flemington desalination project wins international award

Victoria Racing Club (VRC) has undertaken a desalination project at Flemington Racecourse, turning brackish bore water into clean water suitable for the course’s roses.

There is an abundant supply of groundwater under Flemington Racecourse, but it is too saline to be used directly - it would kill the grass and flowers. VRC trialled using water from the adjacent Maribyrnong River; however, the build-up of salt in the water made it unusable.

VRC purchased two separate desalination systems from desaln8, which now deliver 40 million litres of fresh water annually to the track. Apart from dramatically reducing Flemington’s use of potable town water - enough for 1100 households - the cost of the water is one third the price of tap water.

So successful have the two units been that VRC is installing another four to ensure the track maintains its lush, green racing surface. Soon more than 150 million litres (enough to fill 80 Olympic swimming pools) will be available to VRC, meeting half the course’s requirements.

The Flemington Racecourse Desalination Project was this week chosen as the WateReuse Project of the Year at the 29th Annual WateReuse Symposium, held in Dallas. It was selected from a string of water re-use projects from across the globe, including Abu Dhabi, West Africa and Russia.

The desaln8 technology is meanwhile expected to be rolled out to farms, golf courses and sports grounds across Australia and internationally - wherever there is demand for clean water and access to bore water.