Premier Mark McGowan and Water Minister Dave Kelly today announced $15 million to construct a new water treatment plant to meet the future water supply needs of Greater Bunbury.
Construction of the plant will start in the first half of 2018 and will support local jobs over a two-year construction period.
The plant will secure a sustainable water supply for Aqwest’s 35,000 customers and is capable of producing 10 megalitres of drinking water per day – equivalent to four Olympic swimming pools.
Water for the Bunbury area is currently drawn from several bores along the coast where, due to the impacts of climate change, the risk of increasing salinity levels threatens water quality.
The new water treatment plant will extract water from a higher quality in-land groundwater bore, creating greater water production cost efficiencies and delivering benefits to customers.
Aqwest operates an integrated treatment and distribution system comprising 12 bores, six water treatment plants, four reservoirs, one water tower and about 380 kilometres of water mains providing water to approximately 17,000 water services.