Gold Coast poised to build desalination plant

The Gold Coast City Council is looking to establish a desalination plant to top up water supplies in times of drought.

The Council recently appointed a consortium of companies to undertake the project's first stage, which will involve the selection of a site for the plant, preparation of a concept design for the facility and the quantification of the expected cost for designing, constructing and maintaining the plant.

The Coast Water Consortium to undertake the first stage comprises John Holland, Veolia Water Australia, Sinclair Knight Mertz and Cardno (QLD).

The project's first stage is expected to be completed by April 2006, with the Council to make a decision about the project's future in May. If the plant gets the final go-ahead, the proposed 55 ML per day plant is expected to be online by the end of December 2007.