Reader Comment to Herald Sun

In case my reader comment ends up unpublished here is a copy of my comment:

Big Picture - there are several types of desalination processes:
1. Reverse osmosis - salt water is pumped at high pressure through a membrane/filter to get fresh water. High energy costs and the water is not distillated (risk of virus transmission).
2. Thermal process - salt water is boiled and the distillate is clean sterile fresh water.
(more can be learned about the different types of desalination processes from articles listed at [my previous post])

I have proposed a thermal desalination plant to be colocated with the Portland Aluminium Smelter - the idea is to capture the heat byproduct from the smelter process to save on energy. Also using geothermal resources to reduce operating costs.

Others have commented on our "Clever Country" status - coincidentally that is the theme of a blog [Are we the Clever Country?] that discusses our need for developing new sources of fresh water.