THE Liberal Party’s answer to Melbourne’s water shortage is to build a $400 million desalination plant, possibly in Werribee.
Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said a 50-gigalitre plant could deliver 145 million litres of fresh drinking water a day.
The Liberals would look at the possibility of wind power to run the plant.
But Water Minister John Thwaites said the Labor Party had too many unanswered questions about desalination plants, and preferred recycling.
Harry van Moorst, director of the Western Region Environment Centre, said the Liberals’ idea was “nonsensical” since the energy required to run the plant would exacerbate global warming.
