In my previous post I postulated that the days of the mega-projects are over, but there is plenty of work to be done.
Some of this work will simply be the upgrade and replacement of existing treatment plants for existing conditions. Regional urban utilities often don’t charge enough for water and wastewater services, and as a result they tend to run down their assets.
Climate change however, will mean less frequent, more unpredictable rainfall for much of the country’s most populated areas. Consequently you will see a lot of drought proofing projects like the current study into droughtproofing the central west of NSW by linking dams in different catchments with long distance pipes. Reuse will become an increasingly attractive option as water prices rise, and we will see an increasing number of small reuse plants being built. On the irrigation side, channels will increasingly be replaced by pipelines for greater efficiency.
Slightly more radically, we may see rural populations shifting from the increasingly dry south-east to the wet north of Australia, with all of the water infrastructure work that entails.
