Desalination plant delayed, despite fears Eyre Peninsula could run out of water

Work on a desalination plant in regional South Australia has been delayed by six months, past when the region was due to run out of clean drinking water.

SA Water has announced construction on the Eyre Peninsula Desalination Plant will be pushed back six months, to mid-2027, due to harder-than-usual granite affecting its underground boring

Consumer access to water will be "unchanged".

Residents of Port Lincoln and its surrounding areas were told they could run out of clean drinking water by 2026.

The 35,000 residents of the Eyre Peninsula draw drinking water from the Uley South Basin, which has been depleting at a rate described as "dire" by the state government.

The state government funded the then-$330 million Eyre Peninsula Desalination Plant project, which is now expected to cost approximately $470 million, at the Billy Lights Point coastal reserve.

Early works began in February 2025 and it was projected to deliver fresh water by the end of this year.

"We're a bit behind where we'd like to be," SA Water sustainable infrastructure general manager Peter Seltsikas said.

"The pipelines are done, the desalination plant is substantially complete.

"But the tunnelling delay means the first water day is pushing out to the middle of next year."

Mr Seltsikas said higher-than-usual rains this year across the Eyre Peninsula had increased the water levels of the Uley South Basin.

"We have enough water this year to continue to supply our customers and when the desalination plant comes next year they'll continue to have secure water."

Cost blowouts and security concerns

Glen Ingham was the spokesperson for community action group Hands Off Boston Bay, which was opposed to the location of the desalination plant.

He said the delays were testing the government's claims the site is the "cheapest and quickest" option.

"Here we are now at the end of 2026 and they're [pushing the end date] to the middle of next year.

"I'm certain it will be beyond that and the cost blowout will be huge," he said.

In a statement, the state government said the revised budget of the project would be detailed once "contractual processes with delivery partners are complete".

Mr Seltsikas said the authority recognised the ongoing need to reduce water being taken from the basin.

"So we are very much concerned about water security," he said.

The state government said a revised Water Allocation Plan for the Southern Basins meant SA Water could extract water from the Uley South Basin and River Murray to meet consumer demand.

SA Water's groundwater allocation will reduce to 3.5 gigalitres per year in 2027-28, as the plant comes online.

A spokesperson said "it is not expected that water restrictions will be needed".