Desalination Dissolution by DensityDesign

DESALINATION DISSOLUTION

DESALINATION DISSOLUTION Climate Change is more and more becoming an important debate all around the world. Desalination is one of the many subjects which might be considered while discussing about climate change. From a specific case to a worldwide problem, this report explains how seawater desalination, although it is not the most debated issue, mostly because of its defined areas of interest, it is one of the points where the climate change controversy takes place.

Desalination dissolution

Summary Desalination dissolution

INTRODUCTION

1. 0 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3 1. 4 2. 0 2. 1 2. 2 2. 3 2. 4 2. 5 2. 6

a report by:

teaching:

teaching assistants:

Politecnico di Milano

Andrea Molteni Stefano Pellegrini Ileana Ricci Alice Teruzzi Alessandro Tonelli Paolo Ciuccarelli Stefano Mandato Donato Ricci Tommaso Venturini Salvatore Zingale Matteo Azzi Michele Mauri Azzurra Pini Benedetta Signaroldi School of Design Laurea Magistrale in Design della Comunicazione Laboratorio di Sintesi Finale Sez. c3 A.A 2012/2013

3. 0 3. 1 3. 2 3. 3 3. 4 3. 5 3. 6 3. 7 3. 8 3. 9 3. 10 3. 11 3. 12 3. 13

The price of life: Agritultural water usage Water Crisis Where is the Water Crisis? A Solution to Water Crisis

DESALINATION What is Desalination? Reverse osmosis Worldwide Situation Australian Situation Wonthaggi Desalination Plant Story of the desalination plant

pag. 7 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 33

RESEARCH QUESTION

RESEARCH PROTOCOL

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

Query choice First results and categories Network draft | 98 links Network draft | CRALW 1 Network draft | CRALW 2 A bit deeper. Actors and links. Actors, one by one | Supporting Actors, one by one | Opposing How do actors speak? Actors network at a glance (navicrawler level 0) Actors network in deep Actors network even deeper How are actors connected?

43 45 47 49 51 53 55 59 65 69 73 77 79

4. 0 4. 1 4. 2 4. 3 4. 4 5. 0 5. 1 5. 2 5. 3 5. 4 5. 5

SEMANTIC ANALYSIS What do actors say? Controversy explanation In deep | Who says what Focus on each actor. Controversy in details. Water relevance

THE AGE An important actor in the controversy How the situation is What does The Age says and how much? Words shapes Water relevance

CONCLUSION

pag. 81 83 87 91 99 101 103 105 109 114 116 118

1.0 INTRODUCTION

≥

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Desalination dissolution

80 %

Introduction

RAINFED FLOWS

1.1

MORE RUNOFF MEANS LESS WATER ABSORBED BY CROPS

60 %

GREEN WATER [rain] BLUE WATER [fresh water]

WHAT IS THE FRESHWATER?

GOODS PRODUCTION DECISIONS AND INFLUENCE

RELATIONS CAUSE EFFECT

Frozen

69.55 %

Ground

30.06 %

Surface

0.35 %

Atmosphere

0.04 %

LOCALIZED SPRINKLER SUB-IRRIGATION MANUAL AUTOMATIC, NON-ELECTRIC USING WATER FROM HUMID AIR

COMPETENCE AREA

20 %

This project and the report which can be seen here start from a wider work where water resources were analyzed in deep. The project showed how the biggest part of the world water is used by agriculture, thus making it a major source of water demand and pollution.

IRRIGATION

2.53 %

70.25 % 18.09 %

PRECIPITATIONS

Where does agricultural water come from? It comes mostly from rain and for a little part, around 20%, from irrigation. This numbers make rain a very important actor while arguing about water resources and Climate Change. The project pointed out even how water is turning into a serious issue for some countries, which are experiencing or will experience a strong water crisis.

40 %

FRESH WATER

TEMPERATURE

The price of life: agricutural water usage

POPULATION

11.66 %

AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY

GOVERNMENTS

97.47 % 1,9 % DESALINATION 66,4 million m3/d

SALT WATER

ORGANIZATIONS HOUSEHOLD TOTAL WATER

≥

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FAO

Food and Agriculture Organizations United Nations

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

IPCC

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change United Nations

IRRIGATION

IWMI

International Water Management Institute

ENVIROMENTAL FLOW

IWRM

Integrated Water Resources Management

≥

Discover more

VIRTUAL WATER TRADE

Poster reminder The price of life: agricultural water usage

Desalination dissolution

Introduction

1.2 Water crisis The world population is increasing. Along with it, water resources are decreasing. How can this happen? Increasing population is not the only culprit and target when Climate Change is being discussed. Pollution, biodiversity, industries and many other actors take place in the controversy. What is relevant in this report is water. Due to a climate where rainfall is becoming more and more intense and thus not so viable to be used in ways such as irrigation or storage, water crisis happens when there are not enough resources to cover the needs of industries, agriculture and population.

3100 2600 1900 1100 1975

â&#x2030;Ľ

1950

Agricultural freshwater demand Trends in km3

2000

2025

Desalination dissolution

Introduction

1.3 Where is water crisis? Water crisis is or will be a reality in those countries where rainfall is very low during the year. The graph shows the amount of rainfall in 2008 in some of the driest countries in the world. Australia is among the driest countries in the world, and this is the reason why it has been chosen as an example to draw this report up.

78 UAE

207 Tunisia

216 Iraq

346 Morocco

460 Russia

495 South Africa

â&#x2030;Ľ

56 Saudi Arabia

Source FAO Average Rainfall depth in mm, 2008

534 Australia

832 Italy

1174,3 World average

3200 Sao TomĂ¨ and Principe

Desalination dissolution

Introduction

1.4 A solution to water crisis How can water crisis be solved? Weeks of research led to the conclusion that desalination is one of the most used processes. Moreover, it is a controversial issue, suitable to be deeply explored.

INDUSTRY

1,9 % DESALINATION 66,4 million m3/d

HOUSEHOLD

2.0 DESALINATION

Desalination dissolution

Desalination

2.1 What is desalination? Desalination produces drinking water by removing dissolved salts and other impurities from seawater or brackish water. It is a climate-independent and rainfall-independent source of water and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sort of the point. Even during periods of drought it can continue to deliver drinking water, making supplies less vulnerable to interruption in critical areas of the world. Desalination can be used to provide drinking water to houses, seagoing ships and submarines. According to the International Desalination Association, in 2009, 14,451 desalination plants operated worldwide and this number is increasing.

Desalination dissolution

Desalination

2.2 Reverse osmosis In Australia, the most common desalination process is reverse osmosis. This filtering process removes 95% to 99% of dissolved salts and inorganic material. Reverse osmosis forces seawater through layers of synthetic membranes at high pressure (about 60 times atmospheric pressure) to remove salt, minerals and other microscopic particles. The Victorian Desalination Plant, the one addressed in this report (see next paragraphs for details), uses a two-pass system, which means that while some water is completely stripped of salts and minerals after the first pass, the rest is put through a second set of reverse osmosis.

water distribuition system

pumping station

delivery pipeline

Seawater Supply

seawater intake

pre-treatment seawater concentrate outlet

reverse osmosis stage 1 reverse osmosis stage 2 post-treatment

â&#x2030;Ľ

SWRO Sea water reverse osmosis scheme

freshwater storage

delivery pumps

Desalination dissolution

2013 2012 2008 2007

Arabia

Europe

Asia Oceania

Desalination

2.3 Worldwide situation

Africa 2006

America

This charts shows the distribution of desalination plants in the world. The chart is meant to give a glance on the situation, revealing how desalination is a very used method for creating new freshwater, endorsing the first hypothesis of the analysis.

2005

Africa Oceania

2004

Asia Europe

2003

America

2002 2001

Tips for reading the graph: the bigger the circle is, the more water the plant can produce; the lighter the circle is, the older the plant is.

capacity (m3/d)

15000

880000 Arabia - Saudi Arabia

America - USA

Oceania - Australia

Asia - India

Africa - Libya

Europe - Spain

â&#x2030;Ľ

open year

Distribution of desalination plants in the world 2001

2013

The size represent the plant capacity (ML/d) and the color is the date of creation

Desalination dissolution

Desalination

2.4 Australian situation The chart focuses on Australia. Its purpose is to highlight the importance of desalination in the Country. The Victorian Desalination Plant (also referred to as Wonthaggi DP) is one of the biggest plants in Australia, and it is located in Southern Australia near Melbourne. proposed

in use

in progress

capacity (m3/d)

15000

Wonthaggi Kurnell Whyalla karratha

Kwinana Cape Preston Lonsdale Coober Pedy Tugun Fregon Binningup Esperance

The size represent the plant capacity (ML/d)

Port Augusta

â&#x2030;Ľ

Distribution of desalination plants in Australia

410000

Desalination dissolution

Desalination

2.5 Victorian Desalination Plant Desalination is mostly needed in the driest parts of the world, those countries where rainfall is very low during the year. The graph shows the amount of rain for some selected countries in 2008. Even if it can vary a bit from year to year itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still a good indicator. In some of these selected countries desalination is used and new plants are being built as we will see in a dedicated chapter. a coastal integration

The spoil from earthworks is being used to create a series of new dunes, which will help integrate the plant with the natural landscape. It also helps to reduce emissions from construction by reducing truck movements and fuel consumption. b living green roof

A living green roof, covered with living indigenous ground covers, tussocks and low shrubs will help blend the plant into the natural landscape. The roof also provides acoustic protection, thermal control and reduce maintenance. c ecological restoration

The project will result in one of the largest ecological restoration programs ever undertaken in Victoria, with the creation of a 225ha coastal park complete with wetlands, coastal and swampy woodlands and new habitat for local fauna. A new network of pedestrian, cycling and horse riding paths on the plant site will link with existing trails. LOCATION: EXTIMATED OUTPUT: EXTENDED OUTPUT: ENERGY: COST: TECHNOLOGY: % OF WATER SUPPLY: START DATE: OPERATION DATE:

Wonthaggi, Victoria 410 megalitres per day 550 megalitres per day 90MW of electricity to operate $3.5 billlion dollars Reverse Osmosis Estimed 33% of Melbourne August 2009 Estimated 2013

Desalination dissolution

Desalination

seawater supply

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

underground tunnels

seawater intake tunnel screening pre-treatment filtration reverse osmosis remineralisation fresh water storage outlet tunnel

seawater intake seawater concentrate outlet a b c

3 desalination plan b

â&#x2030;Ľ

Victoria Desalination Plant Blue print

desalinated water

coastal integration living green roof ecological restoration

Desalination dissolution

Desalination

2.6 Story of the desalination plant The Wonthaggi Desalination Plant projects started in 2007, as part of a big water plan meant to reduce or even solve water crisis in the Melbourne region. The timeline highlights the most important events from 2007 to November 2012, the time when the research for this report took place. Some events are missing, but the timeline purpose is to introduce the theme and clarify the controversy, which takes place even in reality with protesters on the Wonthaggi site.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

20 August 2008 EES on desalination released for the public 19 June 2007 Plan to build desalination plant

1 June 2007 Government releases Our Water Our Future water plan.

5 February 2008 First protest against the plant

27 May 2008 24 hour picket begins

28 December 2007 EES for desalination plant begins

26 August 2011 Seven fined over desalination protest occured in October 2010

30 July 2009 AquaSure announced as winning bidder for construction

15 June 2009 Water storages bottom out 6 October 2009 Construction begins

20 October 2010 Some protesters blocked an access road to the desalination plant to protest against Brumby Administration and plant costs.

6 September 2012 Plant produces its first drop of drinking water

RESEARCH QUESTION Starting from the Wonthaggi Desalination Plant as a case study, is desalination the solution?

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RESEARCH PROTOCOL

Google.com

Google .com

Google search: DESALINATION .com | anytime | worldwide | all results Result: analisys object

Google.com/trends

Google Trends

Google Trends search: WONTHAGGI DESALINATION | VICTORIAN DESALINATION 2004-now | worldwide Result: main query

Google.com.au

Google .com.au

Google search: WONTHAGGI DESALINATION .com.au | anytime | worldwide | all results Result: first 10 results pages

Harvester DMI

RESEARCH PROTOCOL

Harvest: 10 pages only return uniques | no URLs from Google and Youtube Result: 98 links

Navicrawler

Open: 98 link level 0 Crawl: level 1, level 2 | no social, sharing websites, boots| indegree < 2 filter | labels in sites Result: Sites Network | IN Sites 82 NEXT Sites 4400

Alchemy API

Google .com.au

Google.com.au

Sites Network: actor list | labels Result: 13 supporting actors | 16 opposing actors

Google search: actor + desalination .com.au | anytime | worldwide | all results Result: 18 supporting links | 26 opposing links

Navicrawler

Wordcounter

Open: 18 supporting web pages | 26 opposing web pages 200 words Result: 40 refined words for supporting actors | 40 refined words for opposing actors

â&#x2030;Ľ

Discover more Unfold the page

Alchemy API

Open: 18 supporting web pages | 26 opposing web pages 50 concepts Result: 11 concepts water | focus on water concepts

3.0 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

Desalination dissolution

Google.com

Google search: DESALINATION .com | anytime | worldwide | all results Result: analisys object

Google.com/trends

Quantitative analysis

Google Trends search: WONTHAGGI DESALINATION | VICTORIAN DESALINATION 2004-now | worldwide Result: main query

3.1 Query choice In order to find what we needed to search on the internet to find some valuable results, we began to put some keywords and concepts in Google Trends, discovering the most searched terms or sentences. Between wonthaggi desalination and victorian desalination, the graph shows how the first one is the more searched sentence, thus making it our query to start the research.

Web Search Interest: wonthaggi desalination. Worldwide, 2004 - present. Web Search Interest: victorian desalination. Worldwide, 2004 - present.

Interest over time The number 100 represents the peak search volume 100

2005

2006

Regional interest

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Reated terms

Top

desalination wonthaggi

100

desalination plant

jobs wonthaggi

wonthaggi desalination jobs

desalination plant jobs

desalination plant victoria

melburne desalination plant

2012

100

Conclusion The query is wonthaggi desalination because it is the most searched.

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.2 First results and categories Google.com.au

The first 10 pages of results (query: wonthaggi desalination) in google. com.au produced 98 links. At this time of the research, we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care too much about what links we had found or if they had something relevant in them. Links were divided in 5 categories, depending on their belonging: institutions, media, associations, companies and persons. Each category has its own color.

Google search: WONTHAGGI DESALINATION .com.au | anytime | worldwide | all results Result: first 10 results pages

Harvester DMI

Harvest: 10 pages only return uniques | no URLs from Google and Youtube Result: 98 links

MEDIA

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/wages-water-and-wonthaggi-20111212-1orb4.html

http://designbuildsource.com.au/topic/wonthaggi-desalination-plant

http://www.theage.com.au/national/160-workers-sacked-at-desal-plant-20110817-1iyi2.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wonthaggi_desalination_plant_DSC_6471.JPG

http://www.theage.com.au/national/desal-plant-loses-battle-to-sack-160-workers-20110831-1jm16.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wonthaggi_desalination_plant_DSC_6478.JPG

http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/public-takes-water-with-grain-of-salt-20120917-262c9.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wonthaggi_desalination_plant_DSC_6481.JPG

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/desalination-plants-quality-hard-to-swallow-20110828-1jgfu.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wonthaggi_desalination_plant_DSC_6482.JPG

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/its-not-too-late-premier-to-save-us-from-the-desal-disaster-20111225-1p9iu.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wonthaggi_desalination_plant_DSC_6483.JPG

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/desal-chief-banks-on-1bn-win-20121002-26xqy.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonthaggi_desalination_plant

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/desal-manager-charged-in-pub-attack-20111115-1nh8w.html

http://science.discovery.com/tv/build-bigger/projects/australia/australian-desalination-plant.html

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/desal-plant-delay-penalties-refused-20121106-28w2p.html

http://waterweek.com.au/news/thiess_degremont_produces_first_reverse_osmosis_water/076272/

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/desal-plant-reaches-target--one-year-late-20121009-27af1.html

http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/breaking-news-blog/accusations-of-drug-use-at-desalination-plant/20121002-26w32.html

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/that-sinking-feeling-20111209-1onr3.html

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/07/28/3280157.htm

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/that-sinking-feeling-20111209-1onr3.html

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/09/18/3592297.htm

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/water-to-flow-from-wonthaggi-plant-20120906-25h9v.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-27/aerial-view-of-wonthaggi-desal-plant-in-2011jpg/4225072

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/lavish-desalination-pay-deal-sparks-fears-of-high-union-benchmark/storyfn59niix-1226054290828

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-06/desalinated-water-destined-for-drinking-supply/4247452 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-26/desalinated-water-flows-into-drinking-supply/4281132 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-26/wonthaggi-desal-plant-open-for-business/4282370 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-01/wonthaggi-desalination-plant-pipes/4289512 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-01/wonthaggi-desalination-plant-water/4289526 http://www.abc.net.au/news/topic/wonthaggi-3995 http://www.afr.com/p/national/wonthaggi_desal_plant_achieves_acceptance_8bLZAnlZf2tQoc0EarG3sI http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/baillieu-government-knew-water-users-were-overcharged-306m/storye6frf7kx-1226519132235

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/investigations/privacy-breaches-at-wonthaggi-desalination-plant/storyfn6tcs23-1225956018100 http://www.water-technology.net/projects/wonthaggidesalinatio/ INSTITUTIONS http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/environment-assessment/projects/victorian-desalination-project http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/projects/desalination_plant.asp http://www.partnerships.vic.gov.au/CA25708500035EB6/0/8ACBA1C56F57CF23CA25736E0001DCE8

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/bikies-linked-to-workers-at-wonthaggi-desalination-plant/story-fn7x8me2-1226167972616

http://www.water.vic.gov.au/initiatives/desalination/background/pipeline

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/billion-rust-bucket/story-fn7x8me2-1226388121424

http://www.water.vic.gov.au/initiatives/desalination/background/pipeline

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/billion-water-bill-bleeds-us-dry/story-fn7x8me2-1226295425982

http://www.water.vic.gov.au/initiatives/desalination/community/activities

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/building-boss-claims-crims-were-running-drugs-at-desalination-plant/storye6frf7kx-1226486147643

http://www.water.vic.gov.au/initiatives/desalination/community/office

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/crane-crack-sends-wonthaggi-desal-plant-staff-home/story-fn7x8me2-1226147251527

ASSOCIATIONS

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/desalination-plant-delivers-fresh-taste-from-a-drop-in-the-ocean/storye6frf7kx-1226482111460

http://cgn.org.au/dp/node/395

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/desalination-plant-water-a-fantastic-drop-says-director/story-e6frf7kx-1226476375547

http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=water/desal

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/desalination-plant-water-billing-fiasco-to-top-400-million-essential-services-commissionreport-finds/story-e6frf7kx-1226488515308

http://www.melbournewater.com.au/content/current_projects/current_projects.asp

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/faulty-valves-in-new-desal-delay/story-fn7x8me2-1226258864932 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/late-desal-plant-a-comedy-of-errors/story-fn7x8me2-1226414246816

http://www.greenleft.org.au/taxonomy/term/3621

http://www.socialistpartyaustralia.org/archives/2939 http://www.watershedvictoria.org.au/

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/melburnians-face-rocketing-water-bills-to-pay-for-desalination-plant/storye6frf7kx-1226013788367

COMPANIES

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/wages-deadline-blowout-for-wonthaggi-desalination-plant/storyfn7x8me2-1226299537722

http://primaweld.com.au/index.php/projects/victorian-desalination-project/ http://www.aquasure.com.au/cms_files/100824_Victorian%20Desalination%20Project_FAQs.pdf

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/water-bills-up-310-next-year-to-pay-for-desalination-plant-but-french-builder-says-itstoo-big/story-e6frf7kx-1226528481178

http://www.aquasure.com.au/cms_files/FAQ.pdf

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/water-from-w-onthaggi-desalination-plant-flows-into-cardinia-reservoir/storye6frf7kx-1226481862485

http://www.aquasure.com.au/ems_docs/TDV-0-EV-PC-0012.B-02%20D&C%20Utilities%20EMP%20Att%20B%20-%20Project%20 components.pdf

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/were-paying-for-wonthaggi-desal-plant-construction-delays/storyfn7x8me2-1226393648807

http://www.aquasure.com.au/local_benefits_initiatives.php

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/wonthaggi-desalination-plant-building-costs-stay-secret/story-e6frf7kx-1226492125285 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/wonthaggi-desalination-plant-faces-four-month-delay/story-fn7x8me2-1226178811063 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/wonthaggi-desalination-plant-produces-its-first-drops-of-drinking-water/storye6frf7kx-1226466517254 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/workers-at-wonthaggi-desalination-plant-slowing-work-rate-for-more-cash/storyfn7x8me2-1226146074413

http://www.aquasure.com.au/community_engagement.php

http://www.aquasure.com.au/location.php http://www.aquasure.com.au/operations_maintenance_job_advertisements.php http://www.ats.org.au/index.php/projects-topmenu-4/4-projects/historical-projects/540-wonthaggi-desalination-plant9 http://www.korvest.com.au/en/Case%20Studies/Wonthaggi http://www.kubale.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110&Itemid=506 http://www.thiess.com.au/capabilities/projects/victorian-desalination-plant

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/wonthaggi-desalination-plant-costs-soar-by-106-million/story-e6frf7jo-1226313934703 http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/wonthaggi-desalination-plant-building-costs-stay-secret/story-e6frfmq9-1226492125285

PERSONS

http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=31996

http://www.dannyforster.com/item/australias-victorian-desalination-project

http://www.projectlink.com.au/news/wonthaggi-desalination-plant-victoria-

http://www.dannyforster.com/tv/build-it-bigger/australias-victorian-desalination-project

http://www.smh.com.au/business/desal-debacle-the-aussie-revenge-20120802-23h5o.html

http://www.hrnicholls.com.au/archives/vol31/2011mmoore-2.pdf

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/i-did-what-they-asked-desal-designer-says-20121203-2aple.html http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/hope-springs-despite-the-desal-disaster-20120304-1ub07.html

OTHER

http://www.theage.com.au/business/desal-plant-springs-into-life-20120917-26175.html

http://australia.trovit.com/jobs/desalination-plant-wonthaggi

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/desal-plant-debacle-for-builder-20110405-1d2z2.html

http://melbourne.olx.com.au/wonthaggi-desalination-jobs-iid-65650231

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/desalination

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Ethical-Decision-Making-Constructing-The-Wonthaggi-950240.html

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/wages-water-and-wonthaggi-20111212-1orb4.html

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.3 Network draft | 98 links A first network draft, based on the first 98 links, was made analyzing connections and links among websites, revealing the absence of direct connections between the websites at a level 0 analysis (only direct connections). This situation led to the need of a second analysis at a deeper level (see research protocol for details).

Navicrawler

Open: 98 link level 0 | no social, sharing websites, boots| indegree < 2 filter | labels in sites Result: network level 0 IN Sites 34 NEXT Sites 476

} media

â&#x2030;Ľ

98 links network Gephi representation, colored by type

} istitutions } associations } companies } persons

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.4 Network draft | CRAWL 1 The second level analysis reveals links and connections between our 98 links. Hubs and most important websites are clearly visible. The network is relatively small but full of meaning and its purpose is not drawing a giant set of bubbles, but rather highlighting and pointing out how the situation is when we talk about “wonthaggi desalination” on the web.

Navicrawler

Crawl: next sites level 1 | no social, sharing websites, boots| indegree < 2 filter | labels in sites Result: network level 1 IN Sites 61 NEXT Sites 281

} media

≥

98 links network 1 Gephi representation, colored by type

} istitutions } associations } companies } persons

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.5 Network draft | CRAWL 2

Navicrawler

Crawl: next sites talking about wonthaggi desalination level 2 | no social, sharing websites, boots| indegree < 2 filter | labels in sites Result: network 2 IN Sites 82 NEXT Sites 4400

} media

â&#x2030;Ľ

98 links network 2 Gephi representation, colored by type

} istitutions } associations } companies } persons

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.6 A bit deeper. Actors and links At this point of the analysis, with a well connected network and a general idea about the situation, we shifted our attention on the actors which took and keep taking place in the controversy. In order to find those actors, we used a semantic analysis tool on the corpus of the 98 links, AlchemyAPI. At the end of this step, we had 29 actors (devided in supporting and opposing actors, 13 supporting the construction and 16 opposing it). Actors are divided in the same categories as the first 98 links, which are institutions, media, companies, associations and persons. We wanted to know where the actors positioned themselves and how the web is composed. On googe.com.au, we put the query (actor name) desalination for each actor. With a manual skimming, 44 links were found. These links are different from the first 98 links, mainly because in this step the analysis was much more manual and microanalytical than before. This does not mean that all links are different, just that some of them may be the same and some others are not.

OPPOSING

SUPPORTING

MEDIA https://twitter.com/melbgreens https://twitter.com/VictorianGreens http://theconversation.edu.au/solving-water-security-dont-ignore-the-public-9173 http://theconversation.edu.au/better-water-planning-could-avoid-desalination-794 http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/billions-down-the-drain-in-kafkaesque-desal-nightmare-20110327-1cbwc.html http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/desal-plant-debacle-for-builder-20110405-1d2z2.html#ixzz2EOPrcEdE http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/relations-crusty-at-desal-project-20110221-1b2hl.html#ixzz2EOV8sTmn http://www.theage.com.au/business/desal-firms-profit-wipeout-20110411-1db4t.html#ixzz2EOVd4XP4 http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-desal-cup-runneth-over-with-our-cash-20100926-15s9j.html http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/builder-hit-hard-by-desal-troubles-20110804-1idm3.html http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/time-to-come-clean-on-the-cost-of-water-20100530-wndy.html http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/warning-the-desalination-plant-may-be-bad-for-your-health-20111016-1lrg9.html http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/desalination-plants-quality-hard-to-swallow-20110828-1jgfu.html http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/not-too-late-to-stop-the-disaster-that-is-our-desalination-plant-20101011-16ebo http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/vic-desal-plant-to-cost-18-billion-ag-20101007-168td.html http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/is-desalination-the-solution-20080516-2f58.html

MEDIA http://theconversation.edu.au/a-desalination-revolution-that-saves-water-and-energy-5970 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/youll-thank-us-for-desal-holding/story-e6frf7kx-1226014387551 http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/holding-denies-desal-plant-will-hit-158bn-20100917-15fcp.html http://designbuildsource.com.au/desalination-plan-obsolete-future-droughts-expected http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/desalination-plant-water-a-fantastic-drop-says-director/comments-e6frf7kx-1226476375547 http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/neil-mitchell-blog/steve-bracks-defends-myki-desal-plant-and-smart-meters/20120731-23bq2.html http://www.desalination.biz/news/news_story.asp?id=6705&title=Desalination+accepted+by+most+Australians+says+research

ASSOCIATIONS http://vic.greens.org.au http://greens.org.au/policies/environment/water-inland-aquatic-environments http://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/content/video/say-no-desalination http://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/water-recycling-still-way-future http://www.watershedvictoria.org.au/content/faq/ http://www.watershedvictoria.org.au/content/2009/06/offsetting-with-renewable-energy-is-a-hoax/ http://www.watershedvictoria.org.au/content/about-us/ http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/ask-pablo-whats-the-problem-with-desalination.html

ISTITUTIONS http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/environment-assessment/projects/victorian-desalination-project http://www.water.vic.gov.au/initiatives/desalination http://climatecommission.gov.au/about/will-steffen/ http://archive.premier.vic.gov.au/newsroom/7681.html COMPANIES http://www.aquasure.com.au/project_description.php http://www.aquasure.com.au/commitment_to_environment.php http://www.aquasure.com.au/local_benefits_initiatives.php http://www.biosis.com.au/2012/08/10/victorian-desalination-project-heritage/ http://www.thiess-services.com.au/services/projects/victorian-desalination-plant http://www.vicwater.org.au/index.php?sectionid=1175 PERSON http://www.stevebracks.com.au/

PERSON http://petercampbell.blogspot.it/2008/08/water-tanks-use-less-energy-than.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonthaggi_desalination_plant

Conclusion

There are now 2 links corpuses. One is meant to describe the general situation (98 links) and the other (44 links) is intended to describe the actors and their position in the controversy.

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.7 Actors, one by one | SUPPORTING Each actor has its own little scheme. In that you can see its position, its ideas and what the actor thinks about the Wonthaggi Desalination Plant.

≥ media

≥ companies

≥ istitutions

≥ persons

≥ associations Tim Holding Minister for Water (3 Aug 2007 – 2 Dec 2010) He was nominated Minister for Water, Tourism and Finance and under the John Brumby Administration in 2007. He is the key architect of the project. About the Wonthaggi plant he said: “You’ll thank us for desal” and “It will save our cities from future droughts and insure the city against population growth” (Herald Sun, March 02, 2011)

Steve Bracks Australian Labor Party, Premier of Victoria (19 Oct 1999 – 30 Jul 2007) Former Victorian Premier, he held the position three times until he resigned on 27 July 2007 for family reasons. “If we go through another ten years of drought, which is very possible of course, and we need to have a reliable, non-rainfall dependent source of water for our industry and our residential development, I think we’ll say it’s one of the best things that was done at the time,” he said.

Desalination dissolution

Will Steffen Climate Commission member

Climate Commission is an independent association providing information on climate change to the Australian public. Will Steffen, justifying the need of the desal plant: “We’ve had a couple of wet years, however our prognosis is a longer term drying trend in the Melbourne region.” (Designbuildsource, 21 June 2012)

John Brumby Premier of Victoria (30 Jul 2007 – 2 Dec 2010) “It’s not our wisest project but it’s brilliant. Delays are not unusual on a big construction project” he said about the Wonthaggi desalination plant on May 9, 2009

Quantitative analysis

Thiess Degrémont Australia’s leading construction contractor The company, part of the AquaSure consortium, built the plant. In an official statement on its website, this is how the project is seen by the company: “The Victorian Desalination Plant’s water quality specifications are very high to complement Melbourne’s current supplies.”

Mike Jury Thiess Degrémont Services member He says the water tastes ‘fantastic’. “We spent a lot of time making sure that it tastes the same as the water quality of Melbourne, which is pretty good,” he says. Even for him there are strong economical reasons behind his opinions.

Preceded by Steve Bracks and succeded by Ted Baillieu, Brumby

Macquarie Capital AquaSure Consortium made up by industries who participated in building the Plant Created on 30 July 2009, AquaSure consortium will build, operate and maintain Victorian Desalination plant for 30 years. It involves Suez Environment/Degrémont, Thiess and Macquarie Capital. The consortium focuses its attention on minimizing the negative impacts of the plant. It has strong economical interests.

Biosis Experts in ecology and Cultural Heritage, consultants company Biosis on the Desalination plant: “Biosis undertook the Cultural Heritage Assessment which contributed to the required Environment Effects Statement (EES). When that was completed, Biosis was commissioned to finish the project’s Cultural Heritage Management Plan (CHMP) under the Aboriginal Heritage Act (2006).”

Bank, funding the desalination project Strong economical reasons.

Tony Shepherd Professional Development and Management Consultant; Chairman of Aquasure “I guess it’s a modern plant, state-of-the-art, the design and integration into the local environment is different. And the fact that we have to build such a large plant in a very short time is also different.” That said, he has of course strong economical reasons like most of the actors.

David Stewart Leighton Chief Executive

Economical reasons.

Desalination dissolution

Vicwater Association for water businesses in Victoria “Unlike most desalination plants around the world, Victoria’s intake and outlet tunnels are being built 15 to 20 metres underneath sand dunes and the seabed to ensure the marine environment is protected”. This sentence is an example of how Vicwater strongly recommends the construction of the desal plant.

Mikel Duke

Quantitative analysis

3.8 Actors, one by one | OPPOSING Ted Baillieu Premier of Victoria (2 Dec 2010 – ongoing)

Victoria University Associate Professor He about the desalination plant technique: “The trial – conducted at Ecogen Energy’s intermittent operating gas fired Newport Power Station – showed the system used 50% less electricity to desalinate water than traditional techniques.”

Preceded by John Brumby, the actual Premier of Victoria is against the plant, although he didn’t stop the project. He fiercely blames former Brumby administration, accusing it of lack of information regarding the real costs of the plant for citizens. “The final cost will impose an unprecedented burden on Victorians and family water bills for decades to come.”

Australian Greens Party formed in 1992

They care specifically about the environmental issues related to desalination and water treatment in general. They want sustainable water use planning to be required for all new developments and agricultural use.

Victorian Greens Party formed in 1992

Local Victorian division of Australian Greens. In their owned website “Too Precious To Lose” they talk about the Wonthaggi area, defining it a very important habitat totally inadequate to host a huge desalination plant. They care about economical aspects too, addressing the plant as “this economically irresponsible desalination plant”

Rachel Siewert Green Party senator for the Australia State

She doesn’t complain about the plant itself, but specifically goes deep inside the question proposing an alternative: water recycling. This is one of

Desalination dissolution

her statements: “Government has failed to plan appropriately, invest in infrastructure and to make the hard decisions on water conservation and use.”

Kenneth Davidson The Age senior coloumnist He is strongly against the Plant and he has been writing a significant amount of articles since the desal project began in 2007. Among the many reasons underneath his opinion, he is also concerned about desalinated water security. Him in 2011: “Far worse, water from the plant, because of its likely boron content, will be a threat to public health. This is recognised by toxicologists.”

Nick Carson Wikipedia user; blogger; activist He wrote the Wikipedia page about Wonthaggi Desalination Plant. The page is usually accused of being very biased. He is a former Green party member, a traditionally opposition party when environmental issues are discussed.

Royce Millar and Ben Schneiders The Age journalists They seldom write articles criticizing the plant construction. In this passage they address the costs issue, but they have opinions about all aspects: “Victorians will pay an average $570 million a year for the next three decades to have the southern hemisphere’s largest desalination plant - even if no water is needed.”

The Age Daily broadsheet newspaper, founded in Melbourne in 1854. The newspaper, taken under consideration in its online edition, has been covering the desalination plant project since it was first announced in 2007. Even though it is not always agains the plant, it is never in favor of it neither. There are more than 400 articles on The Age regarding the plant (until the

Quantitative analysis

research which led to this report ended, mid-November 2012); for this reason, a detailed focus about the newspaper can be found in this report.

Watershed Victoria Opposing association since September 2008 Watershed Victoria is against the plant in all its aspects. Their position paper is right on their website and anyone can become aware of the main reasons. Here there is an example: “Melbourne is already awash with problem (or excess) water that is not used. […] The project is hugely expensive in dollar terms. […] We wish for sustainable alternatives to be implemented before unsustainable ones. ” and outlet tunnels are being built 15 to 20 metres underneath sand dunes and the seabed to ensure the marine environment is protected”. This sentence is an example of how Vicwater strongly recommends the construction of the desal plant.

John Martin CEO of Docklands Science Park and former politician John ideas can be found in Kenneth Davidson’s articles, where he once said: “We say that the volumes of water cannot be supplied and it would be extremely dangerous to public health if they were to be supplied in the manner proposed”

Jessica Harrison Watershed Victoria Vice President As vice president of one of the most active associations against the plant, she has been front row even during some demonstrations which took place on the Wonthaggi site. During one of these on July 1 2012, she said “We are making the point, strongly, that Aquasure won’t have our trust until they install permanent environment monitoring in the ocean off the desal site” revealing a little will to cooperate with her enemies.

Desalination dissolution

Mark Robertson Watershed Victoria President Being the president of Watershed, he is against the Victorian Desalination Plant in all its aspects. On July 1, 2012, he said that “This plant has been a comedy of errors, it’s an absolute farce”

Pablo Paster Blogger / Journalist Being the president of Watershed, he is against the Victorian Desalination Plant in all its aspects. On July 1, 2012, he said that “This plant has been a comedy of errors, it’s an absolute farce”

Hector Malano Professor ad University of Melbourne “For a number of reasons desalination is not the first or best option to achieve urban water security. The decision to build these plants reveals a failure in the way we plan for future water requirements.”

Peter Campbell Blogger On August 25, 2008, he wrote in his blog: “John Brumby and Tim Holding would do well to consider mandating rainwater tanks for new houses rather than building an energy guzzling desalination plant”. This approach makes him a small actor but still proposing alternatives to the desalination plant. Alternatives thought as being less energy-hungry.

Quantitative analysis

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.9 How do actors speak? Some actors speak on the same domain. Some others speak on more than one website. Websites have a different importance in the worldwide web. This chart is here because it helps understanding how the network is structured: an actor can speak less than another but on a very important website: for instance Nick Carson, one of the opposing actors, speaks on Wikipedia but heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not so important because there is just one page regarding the plant. The charts shows, in this order from left to right: actors, on how many domains they speak, how many actors speak on the same domain, domain importance and name.

Conclusion supporting opposing

There is a strict division. Supporting and opposing actors donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mix but institutions which talk even on The Age, the most important news corporation. The controversy has almost a parallel development.

Desalination dissolution

Will Steffen AquaSure Tony Sheperd Biosis Thiess DegrĂŠmont Mikel Duke Macquarie Capital David Stewart (leighton Executive) Mike Jury Vicwater John Brumby Steve Bracks Tim Holding

Hector Malano Peter Campbell John Martin Pablo Paster Jessica Harrison

Quantitative analysis

climatecommission.gov.au designbiuldsource.com.aux acuasure.com.au biosis.com.au thiess-services.com.au vicwater.org.au heraldsun.com.au 3aw.com.au stevebracks.com.au

vic.gov.au theconversation.edu.au theage.com.au

Mark Robertson Watershed Victoria Ted Baillieu Australian Greens Victorian Greens

Sites linking in

Rachel Siewert Kenneth Davidson

2245413 1000-9999

Nick Carson

100-999

Royce Millar

10-99

Ben Schneiders

0-9

From left to right

The Age

â&#x2030;Ľ

Actors, routes, domain importance, where actors speak, connections

petercampbell.blogspot.com smh.com.au treehugger.com watershedvictoria.org.au greens.org.au greensmps.org.au en.wikipedia.org

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.10 Actors network at a glance Having the 44 actors links, we found connections among those links using Navicrawler. Gephi was used to visualize the results. The visualization is divided: supporting and opposing actors links collide. The analysis is made in various levels. The representation shows: • How the sites of the same category are spatially close to each other. • In all cases media occupy the larger clusters and they have more sites linking in (inDegree in Gephi terms). • There are mainly people and associations in the opposing category (greens for instance). • In supporting actors there are mainly companies such as the menufacturers and institutions such as the government.

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

Opposing network

Supporting network

Gephi representation, colored by type

â&#x2030;Ľ

â&#x2030;Ľ watre.vic twitter peter campbell treehugger

aquasure victorian govenment

designbuildsource

the age

the hearld sun

thiess

greens

3aw

the age smh

wikipedia desalination.biz biosis } media } istitutions

the conversation

abc

} associations } companies } persons

Conclusion

At a level 0 analysis, there are only a few links between the 98 links corpus. This led to the need of a new and deeper research. The results are in the next pages.

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.11 Actors network in deep Deeper down the analysis, there are connections between our links. The net starts to be complex and we decided to go even further with a second level analysis (see next paraagraph).

Desalination dissolution

Opposing network 1

desalination.biz

treehugger

Gephi representation, colored by type

Supporting network 1 Gephi representation, colored by type

â&#x2030;Ľ

peter campbell

abc

vicwater the hearld sun victorian govenment

watre.vic

twitter greens

wikipedia

thiess

the age

aquasure

steve bracks the age designbuildsource

smh

the conversation

} media } istitutions } associations } companies } persons

Quantitative analysis

biosis

3aw

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.12 Actors network even deeper

Opposing network 2

Supporting network 2

peter campbell

Gephi representation, colored by type

≥

treehugger vicwater abc

desalination.biz

greens twitter the hearld sun the conversation

wikipedia

the age

watre.vic aquasure

the age

victorian govenment thiess

3aw

} media } istitutions

biosis

smh

designbuildsource

} associations } companies

steve bracks

} persons

Conclusion

Our actors are well connected at this point. We thought they would be more connected even at a more superficial level but they’re not. They don’t link each other too much and they stay focused on their ideas.

Desalination dissolution

Quantitative analysis

3.13 How are actors connected? Total actor network

Total actor network

Gephi representation, colored by type

Gephi representation, colored by position wikipedia

desalination.biz

vicwater

watre.vic the hearld sun

treehugger

aquasure watre.vic

steve bracks the hearld sun

thiess victorian govenment

desalination.biz

vicwater

treehugger

aquasure

â&#x2030;Ľ

wikipedia

thiess victorian govenment

peter campbell

steve bracks

peter campbell

the age biosis

designbuildsource

the age biosis

smh

3aw

} media } istitutions

designbuildsource

smh

3aw

} supporting } opposing

} associations } companies } persons

Conclusion Matching opposing and supporting actors together, the result is a very polarized network where media play a major role, acting as a hub of information. This is why we decided to pursue a focus on a media (chapter 5).

4.0 SEMANTIC ANALYSIS

Desalination dissolution

Semantic analysis

4.1 What do actors say? Controversy explanation This charts shows which words are said by supporting and opposing actors. The scheme does not analyze each single actor but rather focuses on two corpuses (supporting and opposing). Moreover, it is polarized so that the words in the middle are said equally by supporting and opposing actors. The difference between how much a word is said by supporting actors and how much it is said by opposing actors determines the shift to the left or the right. Word in the right or in the left column are said just by supporting or opposing actors.

≥

What actors say

SAID JUST BY SUPPORTING

SAID BY BOTH

SAID JUST BY OPPOSING

Bubble and squares chart

Total Corpus Each actor by itself corpus. Words said just by one actor (see p. 4.3) Each actor by itself corpus. Words said by more than one actor. Size indicates words count.

Conclusion

Wordcounter

Open: 18 supporting web pages | 26 opposing web pages 200 words Result: 40 refined words for supporting actors | 40 refined words for opposing actors

Interest for the plant site and the plant itself is found both in supporting and opposing actors corpuses. The word drinking doesn’t come up in the total analysis and that is an interesting aspect. There is room for discussion and dialogue, as there are shared words, even if they are not so specific. Words popping from the single actor analysis mainly find their place in the mankind and nature areas. This means that actors which care about the issue go deep inside the subject; opposing actors use a lot of nature words. Opposing actors speak about co2, greenhouse gases. Supporting actors don’t. Generally speaking, supporting actors words seem to be weaker than those of their rivals; indeed they stay generic and speak about environment, whereas opposing actors are more specific, even proposing alternatives to desalination.

impact archaeological consultation science

ecology

earth

groundwater oceannaturalweather coast fish

wind

ees

river greenrecycle emissions

supply

aboriginal cultural

sea

environment

steffen

E UR T NA

mitchell

drought

basin brine stormwater rainwater source fishing warn campaigns

boron parliament dam ywys price charity option background problem

policies watershed lobby poor failed age

defends effects equity epa premier studying minister

history

PEOPLE

dig life change alternatives

safe gas co2-e greenhouse

health

economic renewable

investigationsgovernment households strike management jobs future drinking heritage professor university public community union pay labor tim holding act electricity time power industry initiatives

Said more by supporting actors

decades disaster releases irrigation capital systems license need

PEOPLE

department

salt

sustainableworld

free

facilities

water

climate

committee

dry

NA TU RE

rain

marine

solarheat

Said more by opposing actors

nhmrc dollars current financial

Wonthaggi

respondents

senator

Melbourne

new mdba

site

guarantee

brumby story

benefits

Victorian

earning

disability

Australia

farmers catastrophic

security infrastructure

population

controversial

cbd

S CE

compliance

AquaSure

PL A

trouble

thiess

desalination

people

inquiry

local

PLAN T

network

international taste

planning

research funded

pipeline construction innovation capacity

phase efficiency

services

performance

politicians mps present party

cost

national

technology

state location

build energy

o&m

contract

cities

NT PLA

project

S CE

assessments

leighton

PL A

plant

company

worker deadline work issue productivity delay profit factory chemical building desalinated reverse tank filtration distillation osmosis

Desalination dissolution

Semantic analysis

4.2 PE O

27 0

E PL

43 7 3

21 30

21 68

21 0

39 0

0 28

48 17

30 24

31 23

2 19 8 15

PL A

In deep | Who says what and how much

26 0

16 48

27 0

85 46

122 19

56 0

28 17

56 67 32 0

32 18

s job t en m n er lth gov hea future

24 0

dam community boron sus water tain abl e re river cy cle

19 31

30 0

n ee gr nt me s on vir sion en emis ees drought climate

no pip vati elin on plan e t projec t research technology a Australi l loca urne lbo Me orian ggi a ct Vi nth o W

22 11

time supp prob ly lem pr po ice w op e tio r n

AquaSure build tion truc cons n t tio cos ina sal y g er en

136 132

391 247

22 33

28 99

21 0

8 10 2 8 24 7 2

98 0

PL A

â&#x2030;Ľ

E UR

S CE

NA T

48 64 26 0 0 29

22 15

33 19

Wordcounter

Open: 18 supporting web pages | 26 opposing web pages 200 words

supporting opposing

Who says what Divided in supporting and opposing actors; words in the middle; counts in circle

Result: 40 refined words for supporting actors | 40 refined words for opposing actors

Conclusion supporting opposing

Issues, in this first analysis, appear to be discussed in a quite balanced way. Parties completely in contrast with others canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be found here. Supporting actors dominate while speaking of technicisms, construction and plant. Price, cost, recycle, green and boron seem to be less important for the ones who are in favor of the Desalination plant.

s job t en m n er lth gov hea future dam community boron sus water tain abl e re river cy cle

â&#x2030;Ľ

AquaSure

build n o i t truc cons n t tio cos ina sal y g er en

Who says what in details Divided by actors. Not a count.

n ee gr nt me s on vir sion en emis ees drought climate

in no pip vati elin on plan e t projec t research technology a Australi l loca urne lbo Me orian ggi a ct Vi nth o W

time supp prob ly lem pr po ice w op e tio r n

e lp

pl a

pe o

Ben Schneiders Kenneth Davidson Nick Carson Royce Millar The Age Australian Greens John Brumby Rachel Siewert Steve Bracks Ted Baillieu Tim Holding Victorian Greens

Hector Malano John Martin Pablo Paster Peter Campbell Will Steffen

e ur

AquaSure Biosis David Stewart Macquarie Capital Mike Jury Mikel Duke Thiess DegrĂŠmont Tony Sheperd

na t

s ce

Jessica Harrison Mark Robertson Watershed Victoria Vicwater

Conclusion Some actors, mainly journalists, tend to write about everything. Other actors, like Pablo Paster, focus their protest more on cost and nature. Opposition seems like a general protest to desalination rather than to the plant itself. It is not a localized problem, nor something like not in my backyard.

pl a

Desalination dissolution

Semantic analysis

4.3 Focus on each actor. Controversy in details. In the previous charts, the analysis was made on all the actors together, only divided in supporting and opposing ones. Here the charts go beyond and deep inside each actor links. Why? Because each actor says something different, and a word with a small count in the total corpus can be excluded. In these charts all the words are there to be seen. These are the only charts there every single actor can express its own point of view in the controversy. Moreover, these brains help discovering the themes discussed by each actor. As you can see, some words are said by just one actor, other words are said by more than one actor.

Wordcounter

Open: 18 supporting web pages | 26 opposing web pages 200 words Result: 40 refined words for supporting actors | 40 refined words for opposing actors

Desalination dissolution

Semantic analysis

â&#x2030;Ľ Supporting actors

power capacity impact jobs

site

wonthaggi water

facilities supply

environment

electricity history

desalination

project

communities construction ees

time

victorian

management

victorian

melbourne

desalination plant

aboriginal

ecology

energy heritage

project

local

marine performance

pipeline

plant

new

site

community

investigations assessments government archaeological

cultural

AQUASURE

BIOSIS

construction australian tim holding aquasure economic energy plant initiatives water

local rain earning

strike

thiess build

leighton

aquasure contract

act

people

water

pipeline

union

desal

ees

network

construction

project

trouble

services coast

inquiry

dig power

Common words (total corpus, paragraphs 4.1 and 4.2)

â&#x2030;Ľ

What each actor says Words said by the actors corpus Words said by just one actor, specific point of view

Single actor corpus, the bigger the bubble, the more said the word is.

contract

cost

taste

dam

future

pay

drought

price aquasure

wind

jobs

JOHN BRUMBY

energy guarantee

water

victorian planning

environment plant

power

desalination

equity desalination melbourne

MACQUARIE CAPITAL

minister

government

contract

plant industry

project

environment

DAVID STEWART

government

epa

people plant

water

drinking sea

price desal

cost

MIKE JURY

free

Desalination dissolution

australia

consultation

desalination

ees plant

mitchell

university

community

funded

time

MIKEL DUKE

project

initiatives

heat

salt

melbourne health

natural parliament cbd

time

national

planning

AUSTRALIAN GREENS

epa

act

plant

performance

desalination energy project

ees

people

victorian

ees

jobs

cost

government

company

age

inquiry

planning

environment

victorian

build

cost

desalination

university cost

work

time

melbourne

project

plant

water

warn

union

government

industry

location

deadline

TIM HOLDING

health

economic

desalination

environment

job

strike

melbourne planning

investigation charity

management

plant

desalination

government

australia

committee earth energy

jobs

epa

planning

australian

environment

power act

climate

marine

ees

project

international world victorian

climate

future

HECTOR MALANO

BEN SCHNEIDERS

drought professor

security

pipeline

weather

poor

issue

life

supply

water

leighton

thiess

drought

TONY SHEPERD

delay

desalination

alternatives

construction impact

water

project

services wonthaggi

pipeline

rain construction

network

management supply

power marine

worker productivity

water minister

local

inquiry

climate

state

marine

PABLO PASTER

households labor

change

labor

desalination

sea

river water

public

drinking

power

construction contract aquasure time australian

science

drought

services

economic

aquasure

drinking

australia desalination

climate

life

STEVE BRACKS

THIESS DEGREMONT

environment

water

technology

dig

pipeline phase sustainability o&m aquasure victorian compliance australia water thiess infrastructure

energy

brine plant

victorian

planning

contract

plant

distillation

minister

government water

groundwater

victoria

campaigns

solar

coast

project

desalination

government

supply environment

inquiry

pipeline aquasure

plant

power premier

energy

construction

act

future community stream

failed

policies

environment

plant

wonthaggi

Opposing actors cities

defends drought

security

epa

industry

controversial

respondents water

public

labor

environment

â&#x2030;Ľ

government

Semantic analysis

minister

department studying

WILL STEFFEN

desalination renewable

environment impact economic

energy plant

water

construction project

ees

desalination

local

VICWATER

infrastructure

melbourne

supply government melbourne

planning

politicians

cost

contract

location

coast emissions

water

plant

alternatives job

build source

renewable wonthaggi

current

JESSICA HARRISON

water

plant

time future

desal

aquasure

JOHN MARTIN

pay

government

Desalination dissolution

capital basin desalinated irrigation australia disaster environment farmers desalination mdba aquasure nhmrc drinking boron wonthaggi

parliament melbourne

river

problem safe

pipeline initiatives aquasure energy coast contract environment dig ees power

projects sustainability

epa

water

plant

license drought tim holding

reverse osmosis

lobby

government

future dollars

plant

supply

cost

minister

water

rain

plant

MARK ROBERTSON

KENNETH DAVIDSON

present

desalination

planning

technology

victorian

recycling professor

government

chemical factory sustainability water watershed party policies background ywys

contract

desalination

water

desalination victoria ocean

state

university

health

price

environment decades energy

act

project

life

melbourne

inquiry cost

Semantic analysis

dry

stormwater

need

climate

population

world

THE AGE

TED BAILLIEU

greenhouse melbourne

parliament public labor government story victorian environment policies systems victoria drinking

desalination environment

victoria

community water

wonthaggi

plant desalination energy

site

project

victorian

water

delay

worker

company

project

plant

water

leighton union

government

deadline issue

change

Conclusion

desalination work

warn

desalination emissions

energy coast

sustainability

wonthaggi

watershed

water

plant factory

national

rivers

renewable supply

job

alternatives victoria

build

WATERSHED VICTORIA

age

time

thiess

ocean

build

cost

melbourne

health

VICTORIAN GREENS

PETER CAMPBELL

rain

RACHEL SIEWERT

climate

pipeline households victorian melbourne

construction environment greens desalination disability mps campaigns government natural supply australia drinking power state heritage water senator failed marine parliament cities national community time releases future

brumby

building

productivity

climate

ywys planning

greens

australian

tank

plant

NICK CARSON

electricity co2-e chemical victorian background melbourne government catastrophic

groundwater water

cost

stream

planning

rainwater government construction

gas

lobby

job management

industry

location

weather

poor strike investigation charity

ROYCE MILLAR

The controversy takes place even in these representations. We discovered our actors to be very specific; indeed nobody talks about pollution, but they talk about elements such boron and co2. It likely means that the controversy lays among experts. Regular people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t play an important role. More specific words come out, such as brine, the mixture of salts which gets thrown back into the sea after the desalination process. The marine problem appears, as well as alternatives to obtain water for household puroposes like collecting rainwater. Obviously, supporting actors donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mention these alternatives.

Desalination dissolution

Semantic analysis

4.4 Water relevance

Open: 18 supporting web pages | 26 opposing web pages 50 concepts

SUPPORTING

Result: 11 concepts water | focus on water concepts

Opacity: relevance (darker = more relevant) Position: more relevant for supporting or opposing actors

Water resources

Water quality

Water purification

Water supply Water supply network

Alchemy API

Water management

Opacity indicates relevance (darker = more relevant). Positions indicates if a word is more relevant for a certain line-up.

Water cycle

â&#x2030;Ľ

Water relevance

Water crisis

Drinking Water

OPPOSING

Water pollution

Water desalination

The previous analysis was made using a counter, a tool which just counts how much a word is written in a web page. Because of its non intelligent nature, it canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t group words. Water plays an important role in the report, therefore a second tool was used in this stage, AlchemyAPI, which can perpetrate a semantic analysis. With this analysis, water is no longer a single word, but it is associated with its concepts as they are written on the web. The result is a more specific analysis, highlighting the relevance of the various water aspects for supporting and opposing actors. Results are strange and sometimes unexpected, but thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sort of the point. Same as before: management issues belong to the supporting actors. Environment and pollution to the opposing ones.

101

5.0 THE AGE

102

Desalination dissolution

The Age

5.1 An importat actor in the controversy The Age is a daily newspaper based in Melbourne. It has its online edition, the one addressed by our analysis. It has been chosen as the subject of this focus because it is relevant in the research results in Google and a lot of actors speak through it. The Age is itself an actor and even some journalists are actors, especially the ones who wrote a large amount of articles about the plant. Although it has some chronicle articles, most of the other articles oppose the construction of the plant, classifying The Age as an opposing actor. This focus is made for different reasons: • It is a viable way to discover the events which took place around the plant construction; • It serves as a sort of vocabulary of themes; • It explains the points of view of a large number of actors: • Last but not least, due to the large number or articles, more than 400, it couldn’t be excluded.

103

104

Desalination dissolution

The Age

5.2 How the situation is. The first thing we wanted to show is why we chose The Age. This Sankey diagram shows years on one side and journalists on the other side. The query used to find the articles is wonthaggi desalination (on theage.com. au), the same that was used on Google. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s noticeable how interest grows as the plant is being constructed. When the construction ends, the interest lowers.

105

106

Desalination dissolution

107

The Age

Ben Schneiders (34)

2012 Kenneth Davidson (33)

2011

Peter Ker (33)

Ben Schneiders & Royce Millar (21)

Philip Wen (16)

2010

Royce Millar (16)

Melissa Fyfe (13)

Paul Austin (11)

Rachel Wells (11) 2009 David Rood (10) Josh Gordon (8) Catherine Best (6) Adam Morton (6) Melissa Jenkins (5) Clay Lucas (4) 2008

Peter Ker & Royce Millar (4) Darren Gray (3) Kate Lahey (3) Peter Fisher (3) Geoff Maslen (3)

â&#x2030;Ľ

On the right Journalists and number of articles per year

2007

Philip Hopkins (3) Ben Butler (2) Adele Ferguson (2) Cameron Houston (2) Michelle Draper (2) Lawrence Money (2) Kellee Nolan (2) Steve Lillebuen (2) Thomas Hunter (2) Warwick McFadyen (1)

Desalination dissolution

The Age

5.3 What does The Age says and how much? The analysis on The Age is the same as it has been done for the actors. In this chart a count was used to show the trend of words from a year to another, from 2007 to 2012. The online newspapaer cares a lot about the government as well as about the plant. Its protest is strictly connected to the chronicle, hence developing throughout the construction and focusing on some relevant themes.

Wordcounter

Open: 405 articles corpus Result: 60 refined relevant words divided in years

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pay

world world

plans

pipeline

people

opposition

work work

minister

melbourne

local

leighton

law

labor

job

irrigators

investigation

infrastructure

information

industrial

impact

green

government

future

fund

food

financial

federal

environment

engineering

energy

emissions

effects

ees

drought

desalination

delays

degremont

dam

cost

consumers

construction

consortium

company

community

commission

coast

coalition

climate

claim

city

capacity

building

build

brumby

bracks

baillieu

australian

australia

aquasure

action

need

2007

wonthaggi wonthaggi

2008

national

2009

water water

2010

money

word said many times

walsh walsh

Victorian Victorian

Victoria Victoria

word said a few times

university university

time time

thiess thiess

tanks tanks

supply supply

2011

suez suez

stormwater stormwater

state state

security security

river river

risk risk

residents residents

recycle recycle

rainwater rainwater

public public

protesters protesters

project project

problems problems

private private

price price

premier premier

power power

port port

policy policy

police police

plant plant

plans plans

pipeline pipeline

people people

pay pay

opposition opposition

need need

national national

money money

minister minister

melbourne melbourne

local local

leighton leighton

law law

labor labor

job job

irrigators irrigators

investigation investigation

infrastructure infrastructure

information information

industrial industrial

impact impact

green green

government government

future future

fund fund

food food

financial financial

federal federal

environment environment

engineering engineering

energy energy

emissions emissions

effects effects

ees ees

drought drought

2012

113

Desalination dissolution

114

The Age

5.4 Words shapes

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

â&#x2030;Ľ

Blue leaves of meaning Just like paragraph 5.3, size indicates how much a word is written

wonthaggi

protesters

impact

environment

delays

cost

construction

consortium

climate

action

From the chart seen before, some words appear to be important while discussing the controversy, because they show the time protests happen, which themes were discussed and how much. New shapes reveal how the word is used through the years.

115

Desalination dissolution

116

The Age

5.5 Water relevance

2012

2 01 1

2010

â&#x2030;Ľ

Water relevance in The Age The opacity represent the relevance: darker is more relevant.

2009

2008

2007

Alchemy API

Open: 405 articles corpus Result: 11 water concepts

Opacity: relevance (darker = more relevant)

Water Studies Centre

Water Services Association of Australia

Water Minister John Thwaites

Water management

Water crisis

New water

Water resources

Melbourne water

Drinking water

Water supply

Water

As we did for the actors, even The Age uses a lot of water concepts. Through the years water assumes different relevances. 2008, year of decisions, touches almost every theme. In next years, plant construction started, the focus is mainlyon drinking water and water supply. Everything is localized in Melbourne.

118

CONCLUSION Can desalination be the solution to water crisis? Through our deep analysis we discovered a very complex and full of faces controversy. This is not something that you can say there is no room for discussion, but the controversy is certainly peculiar. At a superficial level, different kinds of actors seem to be stuck in their positions but, going deep in the analysis, even the weakest links become noticeable. We are not sure if this is the real situation, there could be some connections among actors in real life, but in a digital contest like the one analyzed in this report this is the reality. It’s noticeable how media play a major role as well as institutions. What about arguments? Here too, the matter is not so simple. There is room to play, as the interests of the supporting and opposing actors focus on several common themes. Going deep in the analysis, it’s noticeable how the opposing actors arguments are more convincing as they address hot issues. It is quite strange, because, in a world where water crisis is becoming a real hazard, ones claiming for desalination should be very convincing and strong, highlighting the need for food that can be produced only with freshwater. Supporting actors, rather than focusing on these issues like food and freshwater, seem to defend economic interests, while opposing actors defend the environment. Alright, desalination increases emissions, which are the main cause of water crisis for irrigation; can the whole system be changed, or is it better to create new freshwater? Supporting actors have strong and valuable reasons to promote desalination, but the feeling is that they don’t push those reasons too much. For instance, they don’t focus on the need of water for irrigation, as opposed to the opposing actors. Maybe the hunting groung is larger than the playground, and supporting actors should hunt more, even in their own ground.

GROUP 7 ANDREA MOLTENI STEFANO PELLEGRINI ILEANA RICCI ALICE TERUZZI ALESSANDRO TONELLI Politecnico di Milano School of Design M. Sc. Communication Design Final Synthesis Design Studio Section c3 A.A 2012/2013