An Alternative to the Traveston Crossing Dam - A paper entitled "Traveston Crossing - Dam Solution or White Elephant?"

This proposal provides a viable alternative to building the Traveston Crossing Dam.
The paper is entitled "Traveston Crossing - Dam Solution or White Elephant?"


It is not simply a plan to secure water for our future, as it also fits within a larger framework - for example, this plan;

1. Incorporates the new weather phenomenon findings, published in February 2009, that explain 120 years of drought in Eastern Australia - including SE QLD.

2. Details a more efficient and cost-effective alternative - the distillation plant should have a maximum cost of less than $1.0 Billion - estimated savings of over $500 Million can then be used for other projects.

3. Provides a turn-key solution for guaranteed water - independent of weather, and/or the immediate requirement for another Reverse Osmosis Desalination plant that is close to the coast and subject to threat from sea-level rises - other similar sized plants take about 18 months - maximum.

4. Prevents the loss of fertile farmland - at a time when farming foodbowls elsewhere are under threat from climate issues.

5. Short-circuits all 1,200 conditions and environmental controversies over current Dam proposal - no wasted administration costs to police such conditions.

6. Follows common-sense principles enabling clearly defined outcomes.

7. NO BRINE waste by-product will be pumped back into Moreton Bay - yes, you read that correctly - No waste by-product to create further environmental damage.

The Big Picture element chain incorporates all of the following;
+ Natural Sequence Farming
+ Cogenerative Desalination - Distillation using waste heat from a power station.
+ Reforestation
+ Erosion Control & Prevention
+ Recharge Parched Rivers & Aquifers - east and west of the Great Dividing range
+ Flush the Brisbane River system
+ Reduce Moreton Bay pollution
= A sustainable plan for the future


Traveston Crossing - Dam Solution or White Elephant?

Murray Darling Basin Problems Increase - Bring in the Legal Teams

Court fight looms over river | theage.com.au via kwout

Just when communication, cooperation and cohesion are required to address the Murray-Darling Basin [MDB] crisis, we see effort, costs and focus elsewhere.

SA Needs Help - VIC Could Help With Portland Desalination

South Australia calls for help with water crisis from the other States:

SA alone can't save lower Murray, Coorong: minister - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) via kwout

The Portland Desalination proposal not only offers a water solution to benefit South Australians and Victorians. This idea can also be duplicated within South Australia to produce even more water:

• As suggested to management staff at the Port Pirie lead smelter
  
• As suggested to the management team at Whyalla steelworks

Disaster Looms for Murray Darling - Time for Portland Desalination?

Scientists warn of impending collapse of the Murray Darling Basin.

Murray-Darling months from disaster | theage.com.au via kwout

When will our leaders begin to seriously consider the potential solution offered by a Thermal Desalination Plant at Portland.

• harness geothermal energy,
  
• recycled heat from an Aluminium Smelter,
• provide a new source of water for communities extending from South-west Victoria to Ballarat, Bendigo and Mildura.

Look Out -- La Nina Event Over

Anyone hoping for a 'natural fix' for our continuing Foodbowl drought crisis - Murray-Darling Basin - should review the latest Bureau of Meteorology ENSO report.

The Murray Darling Basin Commission [MDBC] Drought Update of May 2008 [PDF] is also of interest - the are no references for gaining 'new' water sources to boost river inflows.

ABC Landline - Sunday 4th May, 2008

Interesting segment Rice Shortage Critical, by Tim Lee from the ABC - focussing on the Murray-Darling Water Crisis.

One part dealt with the rice growing regions and their lack of sufficient water -- claims that Australian Rice Producers are among the most efficient and productive in the world. This fact linked in with the story about food riots in 10 countries in the past 2 months, where rice staple food prices had risen by 70%. This years crop will be only 20,000 tons - down from several Hundred Thousands as per non-drought norm.

Cross reference this with:

1. Burma cyclone -- how much rice is grown here?
2. Major increase for basic food staples because of the use of traditional food crops as an energy source to reduce dependence upon oil.
3. Continuing political problems in Africa.

We should be helping all stakeholders in our 'Foodbowl Regions', including farmers, irrigators and environmental users, rather than just focus on buying back irrigation allocations so that we can just maintain river flows -- after all -- the drought is continuing, and the BOM has no rainfall relief predicted for the forseeable future.

60 Minutes TV Programme - Sunday 4th May

Intriguing segment about the Murray-Darling and the critical effects seen at the Coorong in South Australia.

• Dairy industry decimated
  
• Lake Alexandrina has the appearance of a desert, rather than a wetland.
• Bird life being seriously affected by the salinity -- up to 10 X normal in some parts of the 'wetlands'.
  
• No discussion on any potential solutions.
  

Without any substantial, consistent and continuous water input, how can this disaster be prevented from continuing??
Perhaps it is time to review Desalination at Portland, VIC.

Topsoils Blown Away

Terrible news from the ABC -- After the massive windstorms that swept through southern parts of Australia, reports suggest that tonnes of priceless topsoils have been stripped off our farmland.
Putting environmental flows back into the Murray is vital -- so too is providing the farmers with enough water for their paddocks -- bind the soil & enable growth of ground cover. Drought does more than dry up rivers -- it puts our soils up into the Extreme Erosion risk category.

Check out story here ABC News

Nyrstar Lead Smelter at Port Pirie notified

Senior staff of the Nyrstar Lead Smelter in Port Pirie given copies of the Thermal Desalination proposal in early March 2008.
Port Pirie is close to the Mining Operations at Roxby Downs and Olympic Dam -- they may require additional water to further develop their mining resources, given the current boom in the mining sector.

Onesteel Whyalla sent papers on Thermal Desalination

Contacted Onesteel Whyalla management -- passed on the Desal proposal to them. Their blast furnace process generates temperatures of 2,000 deg C - they already capture part of this heat for use in other parts of the steelmaking process. Hopefully they can also use some for thermal desalination.

Water for South Australia

Visited Adelaide - many gardens dead - very dusty - high level of water restrictions in place - La Nina event produced floods in QLD, no respite for SA.

Adelaide also just experienced a 1 in 3,000 year event of continuous hot days [15 days over 38 deg C].
Now there is more stress on the Murray River and Groundwater resources - as per the fourfold increase of salinity levels in the Coorong, extremely low water levels in Lake Alexandrina etc. Some of the groundwater resources failed on a couple of occasions in the past.

Action: Desalination Proposal sent to:
* SA Members of Parliament -- including the Premier, Mike Rann; MP, Andrew Evans; Federal Senator-Elect, Nick Xenophon.
* Private industry - staff members at the Nyrstar Lead Smelter at Port Pirie.
The concept may also be used by the Onesteel Facility at Whyalla.

Rationale: Original paper with Heat Capture/Heat Exchanger process focusses on the Aluminium Smelter at Portland VIC, but it can be used in any Heavy Industry process producing large amounts of heat as a byproduct.

With the Federal Govt have still not able to reach agreement over a comprehensive Murray River Strategy [VIC are still holding out] it looks like the Murray Basin will not get any new water recharge action anytime soon.

Conclusion: By sending this material directly to the South Australians, they may be able to go ahead themselves in a joint venture with SA Heavy Industry to build 2 small [20 M/litre day] Low Temperature Distillation Desal Plants at Port Pirie and Whyalla.
If successful, the plants may be extended/expanded to make South Australia more drought-proof.

Water Race

Today's Herald Sun headline: WATER RACE. Ashley Gardiner and Ellen Whinnett report that a French company (linked with Connex) has declared an interest in building either a desalination or recycling plant in Victoria. This company is already building a reverse osmosis desalination plant in Queensland. Apparently Multiplex and John Holland (local construction companies) are also interested.

Because of the high energy levels required for reverse osmosis desalination; I would encourage any company in the race to produce water for Victoria to consider developing a thermal distillation plant using recycled heat from any high-energy, high-heat-producing industrial process (like Portland Aluminium).

Full text documents online and in-blog

Graham is logged in, so this is from him, even though moonflowerdragon is typing because Graham's arm is still b********d! We may even add the photo we've just taken through a South Island Sauvignan Blanc haze. Maybe.... But the reason we're posting...

....

Ah yes we've found a way to upload and store online and embed here the pdf of Graham's concept paper! Potentially, in such a circumstance as this, more precisely what we desire, than Thinkfree, Googledocs OR Zohowriter...

Scribd!

First: Recycling: Hot Topic or Just Hot Air, then: Clever Country - Dying of Thirst...



2nd:



How cool is that?

Overview of Portland desalination plant concept

Graham recently sent me a copy of the overview he provided to Malcolm Turnbull and ABC:

Many in Govt have been shying away/ruling out Desalination as just too costly - meanwhile the nation is dying of thirst!!

I am a Health Scientist (Medical Imaging) and a former Analyst with the Dept of Defence (with a special interest in Infrastructure) living in Portland VIC.

In the Health Service, when we deal with dehydrated patients we don't worry about the cost - we stick an IV (Intravenous Therapy) drip into their arm and get them back onto the road to recovery -- the same principle applies here!!

Our Dehydrated Nation needs Urgent IV Therapy!!

I have been working on two scientific papers concerning the current long term and worsening drought situation since winter 2006 - construction of a Thermal Desalination Plant at Portland VIC.

Whilst I realise that there are efforts under way to build the Goldfields/Superpipe as a solution for the Bendigo and Ballarat communities, I cannot identify any substantial Murray/Goulburn water storages that will be available to achieve this objective.

In any case, the Goldfields pipe will still be relevant, as any Portland Pipe can join up at Ballarat, and therefore pump water northwards -- hopefully the Engineers have included contingency plans for a South to North pumping capability!

Unless there is substantial rain, we are really facing a catastrophic situation for these rural cities and communities - and the outlook for regular, soaking rains that will alleviate this situation are nowhere in sight.

The attached article the News.Com newsfeed clearly indicates the dire situation.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21583156-2,00.html

The plan that I am proposing provides a constant, consistent and guaranteed source of freshwater.

Whilst Desalination Plants do have fairly significant construction costs, we have 2 special elements at Portland that will provide dramatic savings for the operating costs in Thermal Desalting.

1. An aluminium Smelter that draws down a full 10% of the entire Victorian Electrical Generation capacity - heats molten Aluminium to 960 deg C and then lets the ingots cool off to Ambient temperature, without any process to capture and then use this heat for any other industrial purpose!

2. A proven Geothermal resource 1,300 metres under Portland that provides water at 62 Deg C.

3. The Low Temperature (LT) Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) process only requires the seawater feed to be heated to 65 deg C before fresh water is produced!!

The first document to read is entitled "Recycling - Hot Topic or Just Hot Air?"

The second one is entitled "The Clever Country - Dying of Thirst"

Whilst I have specifically dealt with construction of a Thermal Desal Plant in Portland VIC, it is really a template for the whole nation --- the principles of cogeneration etc will apply anywhere on the Australian Seaboard that has Power Stations and/or Heavy Industry co-located. If they have Geothermal resources nearby, then the operating costs become even cheaper.

In Queensland, the Aluminium Smelter at Gladstone would be ideally suited for a cogeneration project of this nature, given that Brisbane is on level 4+ restrictions.

Input welcome...

Kind regards

Graham Bates

Presentation to Alcoa, Portland Aluminium

I presented the paper and idea to the general manager and his assistant at Portland Aluminium. They expressed interest and said they'd get back to me.

It's Doable

A local project engineer examined my concept paper and told me it is a sound engineering concept. If Portland Aluminium agreed to colocation with the smelter some modifcation of their production line (heat exchange technology) would be necessary.

Dying of Thirst

If it isn't going to rain, we need to get new water sources. After researching how other countries source water through desalination, and being aware that Portland Aluminium produces a massive amount of byproduct heat, I had a lightbulb moment.

Low-temperature thermal multi-effect distillation desalination
+ Portland Aluminium waste heat
+ Portland geothermal resources
= low production cost fresh water for Victoria.

I've been developing an evidence-based concept paper, linking Australia's desperate need for NEW water with proven desalination technologies and Portland as an idea location to establish a desalination plant.

Once I work out how to upload the concept paper I'll provide a link in the sidebar.