Plant gulps 110 million litres a year but to Bracks…’It’s sustainable’

Hamish Heard
110 million litres of drinking water a year is a fair price to pay for a plastic company doubling production in Geelong, according to Steve Bracks.
The Premier said the water-guzzling Corio plant of Netherlands-based polyprop-ylene producer Basell was “sustainable”.
Mr Bracks launched a $50 million expansion at the plant on Wednesday.
He supported the expansion despite a State Government report showing Geelong’s water demand would outstrip supply by 2018.
The company confirmed to the Indep-endent that the expansion had increased the plant’s water consumption to 300,000 litres a day.
This week’s launch followed Barwon Water imposing stage one water restrictions last month.
Mr Bracks was confident the plant would not be a significant drain on local water resources.
“Measures will be taken in the future to reuse and recycle as much water as possible to ensure (the plant’s) long-term sustainability,” Mr Bracks said.
State Government released its strategy to boost the region’s supplies in April. Mr Bracks said the Government would soon announce extra measures to save water.
“It’s important that the right decisions are made now to meet the long-term requirements for a rapidly developing area like Geelong,” he said.
“Further announcements will be made in the near future about how this Government proposes to meet those requirements.”
Barwon Water chief executive officer Dennis Brokenshire said a northern water reclamation plant proposed for a site near Basell would cope with additional pressure from industry.
But Geelong Environment Council president Joan Lindros described the company’s water consumption as “appalling”.
“It’s grossly unfair for the Geelong community to be expected to reduce its water use when a company such as this is using such a large quantity,” she said.
Ms Lindros praised Barwon Water’s plans to reduce industrial water use in Geelong’s northern suburbs but said the reclamation plant would provide no short-term relief to the region’s dwindling supplies.
“Until (the reclamation plant) is operational it’s just not appropriate or sustainable for a company to use so much water in the middle of a drought.”