Desalinated water for greening Flemington

If Flemington race course  looks a lot greener and the roses more colourful this Spring Racing Carnival, the answer is several metres below the surface.

The Victoria Racing Club (VRC) now has two separate desalination systems turning contaminated bore water into clear, clean water to keep Flemington looking in peak racing condition.

So successful have the two desaln8 units been that the VRC is about to install another six.

Soon more than 180 million litres (enough to fill 100 Olympic swimming pools) will be available to the VRC - half the course’s requirements.

Apart from dramatically reducing Flemington’s use of drinking water to beautify the course, the VRC will dramatically reduce its current water costs from $2.10 a kilolitre to 30 cents a kilolitre for desalinated water.

There is an abundant supply of groundwater under the course but its salinity resulted in its use killing the grass.

The VRC also trialled water from the adjacent Maribyrnong river; however, the build-up of salt in the water rusted the VRC’s equipment.

The desaln8 units have solved the problem and currently deliver 40 million litres of fresh water annually to the track.

The CEO of desaln8, Trevor Ahale, said the Flemington challenge was not just about purifying extremely salty and saline contaminated water.

“There was also a very fine silt in the water which further tested our equipment,” he said. The chemical-free desaln8 units are expected to be rolled out across Australian sporting venues in the next few years.