Hi Juliette,

Western Australia has several desalination plants. The plant operator (WaterCorp) has commissioned a study to look at the environmental impacts at the Binningup plant that is currently underway. You may be able to get some early results for the Southern Seawater Desalination Project being done by 360 environmental (360environmental.com.au).

Regarding the regulatory protections in place, I have attached a recent compliance assessment report that outlines the monitoring currently being done.

Interestingly, there was a proposal to use geothermal energy for the Binningup desalination plant but it did not proceed. It is still an area of active interest in Western Australia, however - especially amongst those like myself that are particularly interested in geothermal applications.

Good luck with your project!

Kind regards, Mark

Looking at your question about geothermal impacts more closely - I am not sure if you are looking specifically at impacts on the marine environment or impact in general. The environmental impact of a geothermal power plant depends on the type of plant being used, Binary power plants use a heat exchanger and the produced geothermal brines are generally all reinjected so there is virtually no interaction between the produced fluids and the environment aside from heat transfer to a secondary fluid to generate steam to drive the turbine. More conventional high temperature flash plants use steam produced from the sub-surface directly to spin the turbines and these fluids can contain things like sulphur and nitrogen compounds that have negative environmental impacts. However, unless a geothermal plant is located adjacent to the coast I would not expect any significant effects on the marine environment, although some could occur.