The Wire

With the ongoing drought affecting 90% of New South Wales and 50% of the country, our biggest city Sydney is now facing up to it’s increasingly smaller water supply. With dam levels at just forty one percent, the State government has announced plans for a desalination plant at Kurnell Bay, an industrial area in the city’s south. Today the Planning Minister Craig Knowles claimed that the plans were ‘beyond public debate’ because the need for water was vital for the smooth functioning of the NSW economy. However various critics have hit out, with environmental groups expressing concerns over greenhouse gases and damage to the area, while everyone from the New South Wales Greens to the Prime Minister have stressed the benefits of alternatives. Greg Leslie is an Associate Professor at the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and technology at the University of New South Wales. He spoke to Bill Birtles about the neccessity of a desalination plant in Sydney.