Katherine’s interim water treatment plant designed to rid the water supply of PFAS contaminants will cost $4 million.
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What appears to be another part of the treatment plant was seen cruising down the Stuart Highway yesterday.
The plant, paid for by the Department of Defence, arrived in the Territory in late September.
“The interim water treatment plant to assist in reducing PFAS concentrations in the bore water component of the Katherine town water supply was flown from the United States via commercial aircraft into Darwin on Monday September 25 2017,” a defence department spokeswoman said.
“Transportation of the plant into Katherine has now been completed and works will soon commence to connect and construct the sections of the plant, which arrived in two 53 feet shipping containers.
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The US-made plant will treat one megalitre of bore water a day, removing “most” of the PFAS chemicals.
Given that Katherine uses 15 megalitres per day at the peak of demand in a dry season, water restrictions are needed to reduce this demand down to something like 13 megalitres per day.
“Once the plant has been established, it will undergo a commissioning process that is expected to occur by the end of October and will begin treating water shortly after,” the defence spokeswoman said.
“The approximate cost for the water treatment plant, its transportation, installation and operation for the next year is $4 million,” she said.
“Defence will continue to work with the Katherine community and the Northern Territory Government as it investigates and implements strategies to reduce PFAS exposure.”