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

SA Water says delays on the Eyre Peninsula Desalination Plant will push the delivery of clean water past its original 2026 deadline.

Critics argue the setbacks will result in significant budget and time overruns.

SA Water says fresh drinking water will now be available to the region by mid-2027.

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

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."