THE State Government has abandoned plans to utilise the South West’s Yarragadee aquifer for the state’s drinking water supplies, with Premier Alan Carpenter announcing plans to construct a $995 million desalination plant at Binningup, 30km north of Bunbury. The plant will supply 45 gigalitres of water each year, to be distributed to metropolitan Perth, the Mid West and the Goldfields through the Kalgoorlie pipeline.