Further Recognition Received for the Innovation Illustrated at the Victorian Desalination Project

The Victorian Desalination Plant (VDP), the largest desalination plant in the southern hemisphere, has won the Australian Water Association Victoria’s Project Innovation Award for 2013.

Voted on by members of the water industry in Victoria, the awards showcase excellence and leadership in the Victorian water industry.

The award coincides with this year’s National Water Week in Australia, the theme of which was the importance of liveable communities. The €2.8 billion (AUD 3.5B) project is the world’s largest water infrastructure private-public partnership, providing a rainfall-independent water source to supplement Melbourne’s water catchments. It is capable of producing 150 billion litres annually when required.

Degrémont together with its construction partner Thiess, Australia’s leading construction, mining and services contractor, delivered the VDP on behalf of the AquaSure consortium for the Victorian Government. Featuring advanced environmentally-sustainable design, it includes a two-pass reverse osmosis desalination process plant, marine structures and tunnels, 84km water transfer pipeline, 87km underground power supply and 225ha ecological reserve. The plant’s landscaping and earthworks design and massive living green roof minimise visual impact on the coastline. Renewable energy certificates offset the plant and pipeline’s operating power requirements.

When awarding the VDP for this year’s award, the judges stated they were impressed by its many innovative features in both design and construction, as well as the completed appearance, environmental and sustainability features and surrounding extensive nature reserve.

“Winning the Victorian AWA Innovation Award for 2013 is a tremendous honour and I thank all those individuals that worked so hard on constructing this showcase facility”, said Marie-Ange Debon, Deputy Chief Officer in charge of International activities at Suez Environnement. “It illustrates our strategic global positioning to be a leading innovator in securing water services to maintain the essential building blocks of a sustainable society.”

In Australia, Suez Environnement is a specialist in water treatment through its subsidiary Degrémont Australia, and is involved in major projects that now supply over a third of the country’s processed drinking water capacity when required.

Degrémont was a pioneer and is now the leader in the field of reverse osmosis desalination. It produces more than 3 million m3 of drinking water a day from 255 desalination plants, like Barcelona in Spain (200 000 m3/day), Al Dur in Barhain (218 000m3/day) or Perth in Australia (143 000 m3/day).