The Kurnell desalination plant is likely to be switched on for the first time this weekend, triggered by rapidly-dropping dam levels across the Sydney and Wollongong water catchments.
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On Thursday, the overall Greater Sydney dam level was at 60.1 per cent of capacity – hovering just above the trigger point for the desalination plant to kick into action.
The plant, which can produce an average of 250 million litres of drinking water a day, is in maintenance mode.
However, it will be switched on when storage levels drop below 60 per cent.
Avon Dam – the Illawarra’s main water supplier – was at 60 per cent of capacity on Thursday; down from 76.9 per cent this time last year, but slightly up on the level a month ago (58.7 per cent).
The driest of the region’s dams was Cataract, where the water level has more than halved in the past year – from 64.7 per cent to just 27.2.
The level has dropped 0.7 per cent in the past week and 1.9 per cent in a month.
Without significant rainfall, and based on the current rate of decline, the dam could only be about one-quarter full by late February.
Nearby Cordeaux Dam was also a shadow of its former self this week. The 93,640-megalitre storage, accessed via Picton Road west of Wollongong, had 34,094 megalitres in it on Thursday (36.4 per cent of capacity).
Both Cataract and Cordeaux dams supply water to the Camden, Campbelltown and Wollondilly council areas via the Macarthur water filtration plant.
Woronora Dam – which provides water to residents across parts of the Sutherland Shire, as well as Helensburgh, Stanwell Park and the northern Illawarra – was just over half full on Thursday; well down on a year ago.
Nepean Dam was the healthiest of the five Illawarra dams on Thursday and the only storage to experience a rise in water level.
The dam – which supplies Bargo, Thirlmere, Picton and The Oaks – was at 72.2 per cent; up slightly on this time last year (69.9 per cent). It has risen 4.9 per cent in the past month, thanks to significant rain in December.
However, recent hot weather and lack of follow-up rain has seen the Nepean storage fall 0.7 per cent in the past week; more than the 0.5 per cent drop in the overall Greater Sydney dam level during the same period.
Illawarra households will have up to $35 added to their annual water bills to cover the cost of restarting the desalination plant, according to the NSW government.
Opened in 2010, the facility has never operated beyond maintenance needs.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said contractual arrangements meant once the plant began operating it would stay on for 14 months.
The plant takes six to eight months from switch-on to reach maximum output.
Andrew Pearson
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
