The state government has put feelers out for extra water supply to Port Hedland as the town’s existing sources crack under pressure from industrial growth and climate change.
The state government has put feelers out for extra water supply to Port Hedland as the town’s existing sources crack under pressure from industrial growth and climate change.
Water Corporation has invited third-party applicants to put forward their solutions to provide water for the East Pilbara Bulk Water Supply Project.
That project seeks up to 10 gigalitres of water per year from 2028 to bolster Port Hedland’s existing water supply for at least the next 10 years.
The town’s current demand is about 14GL/year, all of which is supplied from the Yule and De Grey borefields.
Pastoralists and traditional owners have raised concern about the sustainability of those sources, as has Water Corp itself.
A Water Corporation spokesperson said it was expected Port Hedland would need an extra 7.5Gl of water per year by 2050.
“Alongside ongoing investigations [for long term supply], Water Corporation is using a Registration of Interest process to assess large-scale bulk water proposals from third parties, including their suitability, cost, reliability and timing,” they said.
“Any new source would supplement existing groundwater supplies and support both residential and industrial demand, with some options only suitable for non-drinking uses such as irrigation or industrial process water.”
Water Corporation did not answer how much water the town was currently using, nor what options for sources would be on the table.
Business News understands privately developed aquifers, surplus water from mines, and trucking water from elsewhere are among the options which could be assessed.
Scarcity of water supply is beginning to impact investment and development decisions in the shadow of the world’s largest bulk export port.
Water Corporation in September last year opposed Campbell Transport’s Cooke Point project because the town’s scheme was at “effective capacity”, telling the Town of Port Hedland major new connections could not be accommodated until new water sources were found, which it did not expect to happen until the 2030s.
One day after Business News revealed this advice, and following exchanges with Water Minister Don Punch’s office, Water Corporation said its advice was wrong.
Two weeks after that, revised advice obtained via freedom of information read: “Water Corporation is committed to working with the developer to provide servicing solutions” and that the agency had no objections to the project.
September 12 advice from Water Corp about Campbell Transport's project, top left, and October 1 advice, bottom right.
Drying out
Water security is fast becoming a serious problem in the Pilbara.
Without water, ambitions for residential and industrial growth cannot happen.
The state government allocated $4.2m to bring forward water planning for the region in the 2025-26 budget and is spending more than $12m to ease pressure on the Millstream aquifer after years of lobbying from the Yindjibarndi people.
A note in the state government’s mid-year budget review identified water security as a risk to the economy.
It pointed to desalination, new groundwater sources, and mine dewatering surplus as potential solutions.
The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation is sitting on a document which Business News understands spells out the dire state of many of the Pilbara’s existing water sources.
DWER has refused access to that document, citing its use in a yet-to-be-released update to the Pilbara water strategy.
The strategy was supposed to be revised in 2020.
The nearest developed water source to Port Hedland is the West Pilbara Water Supply Scheme which feeds Karratha.
That scheme is also under major pressure and is therefore unlikely to be a viable option.
The Harding Dam is part of the WPWSS and is at its lowest capacity on record.
North-east of Port Hedland is the Wallal Aquifer which was initially planned to secure Port Hedland’s water needs.
Instead, the state government allocated almost all of its capacity to Fortescue for its Iron Bridge magnetite project.
Desalination now appears to be the favoured long-term option.
The state government is weighing up building a 7.5Gl plant in Port Hedland but that is unlikely to happen before the end of the decade.
One near-term prospect is Vysarn and Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation’s plan to tap the Kariyarra paleochannel for water supply.
That could be jeopardised by Northern Star’s Hemi gold project, which last year gained the Environmental Protection Authority’s blessing to reinject potentially contaminated wastewater into the channel.
That decision is under review after protests from Kariyarra traditional owners.
As far as long-term plans go, Ngarluma Water’s 150Gl desalination proposal halfway between Karratha and Port Hedland is progressing in the background.
Development in Exmouth and Onslow is also constrained by water shortages.
A desalination plant is being built in Onslow, and another is being considered for Exmouth.
