Town looks to pipeline and desalination

The Western Australian Water Corporation plans to build desalination units before next summer to secure the water supply at Denmark after the southern Western Australian town’s second driest year ever.

A 3.4 km pipeline and reverse osmosis desalination units will be built to allow more water from Denmark River Dam to be used. The projects – still subject to approval - were expected to add an extra 650 Ml each year to the town’s water supply.

“The major point that will secure the long-term supply for Denmark is the interconnection between the Denmark River Dam and the Quickup Dam which allows us to make use of the flows through the Denmark River that we wouldn’t have been able to capture previously,” said the Water Corporation’s Andrew Kneebone.

Kneebone said currently small quantities of water from Quickup Dam were being used to supplement the town’s primary water source. He said he believed the desalination units would secure the town’s drinking water for the short-term until the pipeline was finished.

He said the utility had held talks with the Denmark Shire over disposing of brine from the desalination process.