Upgrades will secure Karratha’s future

Water Minister Terry Redman visited towns and projects in the Pilbara recently.

In Karratha he visited the wastewater treatment plant and Millstream pipeline, both of which are receiving upgrades.

With hopes of the Pilbara projects finishing within the next six to 12 months, Karratha will have a new capacity of 16 gigalitres which Mr Redman said would secure the town’s supply well beyond 2020 and cover the potential growth of the community.

About 12.5 gigalitres of water is used yearly by the Karratha community and local industry, with new developments in town pushing infrastructure to its capacity.

About 40 per cent of the water supplied goes to Rio Tinto, but Mr Redman said a new deal would involve the mining company supplying more water to the system.

“Rio Tinto… are now going to supply water from the Bungaroo bore field into the Millstream Karratha infrastructure,” he said. “By September this year that will start pumping it’s first bit of water that will take away Rio’s need to use the Harding Dam resource and the Millstream resource… so that will secure Karratha’s supply,” he said.

Mr Redman said the size of the investment showed how committed the State Government was to developing areas outside of Perth.

“You see two high rise buildings at the end of the street in Karratha, and that is the first solid vision that you can build cities in the north,” he said.

“This is the powerhouse of Western Australia, it’s the powerhouse of the nation, and we are in as good a position as you can be as a nation against the rest of the world.”

Mr Redman also visited Onslow where Chevron’s Wheatstone project was under construction.

He said the State Government was in the planning phases of how to set up water infrastructure that would service the expanding town.

“There will be a long-term legacy for Onslow, and State Government wants to see long-term legacies left in these communities,” he said.