Pre Conference Site Visits

The Gold Coast Desalination Project, originally initiated by Gold Coast City Council and now owned by Sure Smart Water (whose sole shareholder is the Queensland Government), is the first large scale water desalination plant on Australia’s eastern seaboard.
Located at Tugun on a six hectare former landfill site, when fully operational the facility will supply 125 mega litres a day of pure drinking water to South East Queensland, one of Australia’s worst drought affected regions. The facility will be a vital element in the State Government’s new $9 billion SEQ Water Grid, Gold Coast City Council’s Waterfutures Strategy and the State Government’s South East Queensland Regional Drought Strategy Contingency Supply Plan.
To desalinate the water, the plant will use the Reverse Osmosis method – a leading edge technology that is used in the world’s most recognised desalination facilities including the Ashkelon Desalination Plant in Israel, the world’s largest plant. In fact, the water will be so pure after the desalination process, that minerals, salts and other elements will need to be added back
to bring the desalinated water closer to that of the local dam water.

Alan Davie the Approvals & Communications Manager will provide presentation on the major aspects of the project to give you an understanding of the background, then Ernie Bortolussi the E&IC lead will continue the presentation focusing on some of the more practical aspects to the electrical engineering dimension of the project.

The visit will commence at 12.00pm at Tugan. A coach will depart the Hilton Hotel Brisbane at 10.30am to take participants from Brisbane to the Gold Coast and return.

Places are limited, so please book early.