When Sydney Water first released details of the desalination plant, it had a short list of three sites; Port Kembla, Kurnell and Malabar.
Port Kembla was then dismissed as being limited to a 125ML/day plant.
Miraculously, the costs for the remaining two sites were estimated to be exactly the same. The prime reason that Kurnell was chosen was that the land at Malabar had unknown levels of contamination and the strict timeline for building the plant meant the “greenfield” site at Kurnell had the advantage.
By the time the plan was put on hold, (after the sudden discovery of huge amounts of water within the vast cavern between Morris Iemma’s ears), the site at Kurnell had been purchased.
Now it is revealed (Sunday Telegraph, 11 February) that the site is actually contaminated with 100,000 tonnes of material containing asbestos.
Perhaps it is time for the government to reconsider the siting of the plant, for if it must be built, it is better built on a site closer to where the water will be used, and avoid the need for a massive water pipe under Botany Bay.

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