Water from the Victorian Desalination Project complements the high quality of Melbourne's catchment supplies, which provide some of the best water in the world.
The project's water quality standards were developed by the water authorities to complement the high quality of water that Melbourne consumers already receive.
As well as the specifications to ensure desalinated water meets Melbourne's needs, the water also meets the requirements of:
- Australian Drinking Water Guidelines;
- Victorian Safe Drinking Water Act;
- World Health Organization guidelines;
- The Department of Health was also consulted regarding water quality requirements.
These water quality parameters were put into the contract between the state and AquaSure.
To produce drinking water, the salt and minerals from seawater are removed by two passes through reverse osmosis membranes at the plant site. The resulting water is very pure. The water is then remineralised so it is more like our catchment supplies and fluoride is also added as required by state health legislation.
Water from the desalination plant meets all the relevant standards at the plant site, so it is not necessary for it to be blended with catchment water to achieve water quality requirements.
Water quality is measured before the water leaves the plant site and also at the delivery points along the transfer pipeline with online monitoring conducted by AquaSure, DELWP, and water authorities.
For more information look at our fact sheets:
- Fact sheet on water quality and distribution (PDF, 2.0 MB)
- Fact sheet on water quality and distribution (DOCX, 16.6 KB)
The Australian Drinking Water Guideline recommendation for Boron is just one of the many water quality specifications that every water supply must meet.
Boron levels for the Victorian Desalination Project must meet the target specification of less than or equal to 0.5 mg/L at all times, which is one eighth of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines requirements of 4 mg per litre and one fifth of the World Health Organization level of 2.4 mg/L.
This was confirmed during commissioning of the project via laboratory test results.
Page last updated: 25/07/19