Melbourne desalination plant now two-thirds operational

The performance test for the second treatment line at the Victorian seawater desalination plant in Melbourne, Australia, was successfully completed on 26 October 2012.

With this second line now operational, the plant is producing 300,000 m³/day of drinking water for the city of Melbourne, less than one month after completion of the performance and reliability tests on the first line.

Start-up of the facility will continue with the third treatment line in order to reach the plant’s full capacity of 450,000 m³/d.

• A feature on the design, construction and startup of the Melbourne plant will appear in the November/December 2012 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse.