Victorian Desalination Plant
80 percent of Australia is dry and desertlike and the country suffers from long periods of drought. Desalination plants provide the solution for domestic water supply in the densely populated coastal regions in the south and south-east. The "Victoria Desalination Plant" produces drinking water made from salt water extracted from the sea for the large city of Melbourne.
Two Herrenknecht Mixshields drove two 1.5 and 1.2-kilometer-long tunnels starting from the coast: one tunnel to extract water from the sea (inlet tunnel) and one tunnel to discharge the saline back to the sea (outlet tunnel). "Wonthaggi Maggie" and "Rocking Ruby" excavated the tunnels between August 2010 and February 2011.
