DESALINATED water from the Tasman Sea could be the solution to water woes in the Snowy Mountains and along the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers.
Nimmitabel resident Richard Lawson has devised a plan, which he said could effectively solve water shortages and provide adequate resources for power generation, environmental flows, irrigation and consumption.
Mr Lawson's plan involves building a desalination plant on the south coast of NSW and pumping the treated water to Lake Eucumbene, which could be maintained at about 80 per cent capacity.
"Our waterways are depleted and the towns along the corridor are suffering tremendously, so we need to think of a way to create more water," Mr Lawson said.
"Desalination is not a futuristic technology, it is existing technology and we have an inexhaustible supply of sea water on the coast," he said.
He envisages that Snowy Hydro would collect, treat and move the seawater from the coast to Lake Eucumbene. This could pay for the cost of treating and pumping the water with hydro electricity produced during off-peak production periods, Mr Lawson said.
The constant supply of water in the dams would allow for increased hydro electricity production, therefore providing more renewable energy for Australia. After the water has been utilised it can be let down the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Snowy Rivers for environmental release, irrigation and consumption, Mr Lawson added.
"Although the Snowy Hydro Scheme is a user of water they're not a consumer of water, which means all the water they use to generate hydro electricity can be used by everyone down river, across NSW and to Adelaide," he said.
Mr Lawson sent a letter about his idea to the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, however received a letter back from the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts telling him the government was looking at efficient ways to utilise current water.
This was a sentiment echoed by Member for Eden-Monaro Mike Kelly, who dismissed the idea, saying Australia needed to look simpler methods to save water rather than Mr Lawson's idea.
"The first step to achieve is water recycling and storm water harvesting,” Dr Kelly said, “Proposals like Mr Lawson's would need an enormous feasibility study at significant costs to determine engineering and environmental issues.”
Mr Lawson said the next step was to generate discussion in farming communities from NSW to Adelaide to determine what their thoughts are on the project and see if the idea has the public's support.
Snowy Hydro spokesperson Paul Johnson said he was aware of Mr Lawson's proposal, however said the corporation had not been approached to cost the project.
"Desalination plants consume large amounts of electricity and the proposal would require the water to be pumped 120km inland.
"From my point of view the electrical costs would be huge," he said.
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