Eyre Peninsula Water Security Remains Unchanged Despite Desal Plant Delays

Construction on a major desalination plant in regional South Australia has been delayed by six months, pushing back the expected completion date to mid-2027. The project, which aims to provide a new source of clean drinking water for the Eyre Peninsula, has been impacted by harder-than-usual granite affecting its underground boring.

The delay has raised concerns about the region's water security, with residents of Port Lincoln and surrounding areas facing the prospect of running out of clean drinking water. The 35,000 residents of the Eyre Peninsula currently draw drinking water from the Uley South Basin, which has been depleting at a rate described as "dire" by the state government.

SA Water sustainable infrastructure general manager Peter Seltsikas said the project was behind schedule, but assured that consumer access to water would be "unchanged".

"We're a bit behind where we'd like to be,"

Mr. Seltsikas said.

"The pipelines are done, the desalination plant is substantially complete. But the tunnelling delay means the first water day is pushing out to the middle of next year."

Despite the delay, Mr. Seltsikas said higher-than-usual rains this year had increased the water levels of the Uley South Basin, ensuring that there was enough water to supply customers in the short term.

"We have enough water this year to continue to supply our customers and when the desalination plant comes next year they'll continue to have secure water,"

he said.

Glen Ingham, spokesperson for community action group Hands Off Boston Bay, expressed concerns about the project's cost blowouts and security concerns.

"Here we are now at the end of 2026 and they're [pushing the end date] to the middle of next year. I'm certain it will be beyond that and the cost blowout will be huge,"

The state government said a revised Water Allocation Plan for the Southern Basins would enable SA Water to extract water from the Uley South Basin and River Murray to meet consumer demand. The authority recognised the need to reduce water being taken from the basin and expected that

"it is not expected that water restrictions will be needed"

The project, which was initially budgeted at $330 million, is now expected to cost approximately $470 million.