Site not suitable

The surrounding buildings make the site unsuitable for expansion and given the high cost of the plant expansion in future may be a more cost effective way of increasing capacity.

Discharging brine into the ocean is problematic and will affect marine life even if diluted and diffused. It increases salinity and decreases oxygen which kills marine life. A bay is also not an ideal site for such an operation. I propose a more suitable site be used that has the space to create salt pans or the ability to process the waste product into a useful commodity like caustic lye.

The high cost of energy and the high usage of a desalination plant, and the fact that energy using fossil fuel is not guaranteed due to inefficiency of the national government and mismanagement of resources by them, a more suitable site might be one where renewable power might be sourced for the operation of the plant (solar or wind). Using nuclear energy is also a cleaner option than fossil fuel but again all energy is fed into and supplied to the national grid. It's impracticable to solve the delivery of one service by creating a problem with another.

How clean is the intake water? When was it tested for this project?

How energy efficient is the plant and how is it likely to affect climate change?

How will noise be mitigated? 

Given that the Potsdam Water Treatment plant which feeds into the Diep River and into the ocean at Woodbridge Island, and the poor quality of effluent that does enter the ocean at this point, and the proximity to the desalination plant, would this site be deemed to be the most suitable? We have room for improvement at all our water treatment plants so I'm sceptical that the upgraded Potsdam Plant would improve this situation. It is being upgraded to double capacity.

Desalination plants risky and are costly, and dirty environmentally. I would feel happier seeing several of the more environmentally methods of increasing the capacity of potable water supply to the City. The alien vegetation clearance project has yielded good returns and is a fraction of the cost. Updating and maintaining our water treatment plants could supply the balance of our needs. Currently very few of them are operational. Use the design of the Atlantis project to look at more environmentally friendly ideas of dealing with this. 

We don't have the knowledge or expertise to run design, implement, and run a desalination plant, so it is feasible to outsource. Hopefully the contract with the successful bidder will include a contingent of local labour.

* There are many sources I've used to come to this conclusion which I'm happy to supply should you need them.