SA Water wins Water Industry Alliance award for desal delivery SA Water chief executive John Ringham with former Premier Mike Rann at the Adelaide Desalination Plant. Picture: Calum Robertson Source: Sunday Mail (SA) THE Adelaide desalination project has won SA Water an industry award for its planning and delivery, despite months of delays related to the delivery of first drinkable water during the construction phase. SA Water has been named the Water Industry Alliance Smart Water Planning and Delivery Award winner today for the "world class project (which) was delivered 19 days ahead of the original approved timeline of end December 2012 and within the original approved budget of $1.8 billion," the WIA said. The state-government owned plant, which is currently operational under its two-year warranty period, could be put on standby if adequate water supply can be accessed through cheaper sources of water. The cost of River Murray water is around one tenth of desalinated water. A recent report released by the Federal Auditor General also found the expansion of the plant - from 50 gigalitre to 100 gigalitre - did not demonstrate economic merit. In any event, the benefit cost ratio calculated for the project was too low, such that it did not offer a net economic benefit. The decision to go ahead with the doubling has placed upward pressure on water prices in recent years. Today's award description recognises the Adelaide Desalination Project as "capable of delivering up to 50 per cent of Adelaide's drinking water from a climate-independent source, and is the State's insurance policy against future droughts." It was described as the "most capital efficient in Australia - it has the lowest operating cost per megalitre of desalinated drinking water produced." There was no mention of the controversies dogging the project, including a settlement over a payment dispute with builders AdelaideAqua over failure to meet a contractual deadline, or the profit windfall to SA Water driven by charging households and businesses more for a desalination plant that is running at limited capacity and safety breaches and serious workplace injuries and the death of worker Brett Fritsch on site in 2010. The award winners were chosen by an independent judging panel made up of Power and Water Corporation remote operations manager Lee Morgan, OZ Minerals group environmental specialist Katie Hulmes and International Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management CEO Richard Hopkins, who also won an award. Formed in 1998, the Water Industry Alliance is an industry cluster of water-related organisations. 2013 Smart Water Irrigation & Use Award: Philmac Pty Ltd. 2013 Smart Water Resource Management Award: City of Charles Sturt (Winner), Water Data Services and Adelaide Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board (Commendation). 2013 Smart Water Leadership Award: Sinclair Knight Merz and the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (Winner); Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws (Commendation) 2013 Smart Water Planning & Delivery Award: SA Water, Adelaide Desalination Project. 2013 Minister's Award for Water & Climate Change Leadership Award: Toro Australia; Philmac (Commendation). 2013 Chairman's Award: Richard Hopkins, CEO, International Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management.