Desalination plant considered as Les Vardes study continues
A NEW desalination plant is being considered as part of a review of future water and waste storage.
It is more than 50 years since the States closed the island’s only desalination facility, which turned sea water into fresh water, after it proved too costly to operate.
But the installation of a modern plant is now being assessed by Environment & Infrastructure as it works up proposals for the future use of Les Vardes Quarry.
E&I president Lindsay de Sausmarez said local desalination was one option among many.
She said that scenarios considered included using Les Vardes for inert waste only, water storage only, and a hybrid scheme of water storage following inert waste disposal. The full range of options includes a desalination plant.
‘The analysis obviously also has to include other sites and other configurations of uses to enable meaningful comparisons,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
Les Vardes was previously earmarked for water storage once Ronez moved its stone excavation business to Chouet. But use of the quarry has divided the current States, with some deputies in favour of filling it with inert waste or with a mixture of inert waste and water.
E&I’s review of Les Vardes has fallen months behind schedule. Recommendations expected in 2023 were initially delayed until Easter 2024 and then until the second half of this year. Recent Guernsey Press enquiries established that the current timeline anticipates a debate at some point in the current States term.
Deputy de Sausmarez said E&I was 'disappointed and frustrated' by a five-month delay caused by procurement and legal processes, but the work was now 'progressing well'. A first draft of a report for the States has been prepared.
States’ Trading Supervisory Board president Peter Roffey has warned of an ‘inert waste mountain’ at Longue Hougue while it waits for the Assembly’s long-term decisions on Les Vardes.
‘The work to inform the future strategic use of Les Vardes Quarry is comprehensive and necessarily technical and complex,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
‘From water and inert waste perspectives, there has been a lot of work on engineering designs and capital and operational costs, as well as strategic environmental assessment reports, to help determine feasibility and enable direct comparisons between waste and water options, taking into account the island’s long-term needs.’
Former P&R vice-president Deputy Mark Helyar has claimed that the States would already be making money if it was using Les Vardes to dispose of inert waste. And Ronez has suggested that the quarry could start taking inert waste within months and be used at a later date for water storage.
Deputy Roffey has warned that it would be short-sighted for Guernsey to give up a large area earmarked for water and has cited Jersey’s use of a desalination plant as an example of problems with its approach to storage.
‘With multiple sites, multiple uses and multiple possible combinations in scope, it’s important that the States makes the right decision informed by all the evidence and taking all options into account, rather than making the wrong, poorly-informed decision quickly,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
