Sustainability
Water
Where Every Drop Counts
Fresh water is a rare and precious commodity on a coral cay island. As Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort is the second largest bird rookery on the Great Barrier Reef, we are unable to capture rainwater for drinking. To combat this the water supply on Lady Elliot Island is created by a reverse osmosis desalination system converting sea water to pristine clean fresh water.
Where does your water come from?
All water in the resort is desalinated and safe to drink!
Reverse osmosis is used to desalinate seawater, using a high-pressure pump to push seawater through a very fine membrane, allowing mainly pure h20 to pass through. From 100 litres of seawater, we can produce around 45 litres of fresh water.
The energy-intensive nature of the desalination process prompts the need for sustainable and efficient technology. Various upgrades over the years have seen the desalination plant’s efficiency doubled. With the capacity to make 45 litres of water a minute, we can fulfill our water production needs within a 9-10 hour daily window. This translates to about 30,000 litres of water per day, completely made from sunshine.
The resort maintains a 10-day emergency water supply, totalling over 300,000 litres, ensuring uninterrupted water availability during mechanical issues or adverse weather conditions.
A 10-minute shower uses about 65L of water? Be an eco-hero! Turn off the tap and cut your shower time in half, because the more water we use, the more energy we consume to create it.