Towards a greener tomorrow: Celebrating a sustainability milestone
We're set to deliver a new water source to support Perth's growing population.
The Alkimos Seawater Desalination Plant (ASDP) will be WA's next major water source, delivering up to 50 billion litres of clean, safe drinking water.
As this project has progressed, we've been exploring innovative and sustainable approaches.
Through extensive community consultation and stakeholder collaboration with the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC), Public Transport Authority, Development WA, OPTUS and the Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC), the project is on track to achieve our first ever 'Design & As-Built' Infrastructure Sustainability Rating.
The rating helps identify and deliver economic, social and environmental opportunities and benefits in the design and construction phases of a project, making benefits easier to deliver efficiently.
Ryan Smith, Senior Principal Project Manager Assets Delivery said the ASDP has been designed with a 'circular economy' mindset, recycling, reusing, and repurposing materials wherever possible.
“The construction of the Plant required the disposal of 1 million cubic metres of sand,” he explained.
“Some of the sand was used to build an earth berm to shield the site from public view and the remainder was used at the adjacent Development WA beachfront development site - a 'win-win' for all!"
“This substantially reduced the haulage distance – the truck fuel savings greatly reduced greenhouse gas emissions and entirely avoided impact on the public because the haul trucks were kept off public roads."
Senior Principal Engineer Water Treatment, Barrett Moulds said this milestone was about more than just achieving a sustainability rating.
Striving for this rating was a great way to ensure we're not just talking the talk in terms of sustainability, we're finding solutions that provide cost-effective, reliable water services with minimal impact on the environment and the local community,” he said.
Trucks on Alkimos site.