In September 2007, South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced that the State Government would fund and build a desalination plant to ensure Adelaide's water supply against drought.

[8] In light of the drought, South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced on 11 September 2007 that the State Government would fund and build a desalination plant to guarantee Adelaide's water supply.

[2] In the leadup to the November 2007 federal election campaign Prime Minister John Howard promised that, if re-elected, his Coalition government would contribute towards the capital cost of a desalination plant to reduce the city's dependence on the River Murray.

The plant is located on the eastern shore of Gulf St Vincent just north of ExxonMobil's disused Port Stanvac Oil Refinery.

[11] In May 2009 the Australian Government, under Prime Minister Rudd, announced a grant of $100 million to support the initial stage of the project under the National Urban Water and Desalination Plan.

The final capital cost of A$1.83 billion for the Adelaide Desalination Project included: In February 2008, the State Government appointed SA Water as the lead agency responsible for the delivery of the project and also appointed a steering committee of chief executives of key agencies to provide strategic oversight and review of all key decisions prior to approval by the SA Water Board and or the Government and Parliament; this steering committee had an independent chair (Mr Kevin Osborn).

In February 2008, the SA government approved an initial funding of $9.5M for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a small Temporary Pilot Desalination Plant with a capacity of 100,000 litres per day.

This involves three main stages: The health and safety of all workers and stakeholders associated with the project was a key concern for SA Water and the AdelaideAqua consortium.

[citation needed] In July 2010, worker Brett Fritsch was killed by a steel beam which fell from a soft sling at the construction site.

As a result, the high pressure pumps are only needed to deliver half of the water feeding the reverse osmosis system, reducing energy consumption in the plant by up to 40 per cent.

The lack of tidal movement for up to 2–3 days during dodge tides, which occur twice a month in Gulf St Vincent, reduces mixing of the water column.

Each diffuser has a head consisting of four duck bill valves that assist in maintaining high discharge velocity for optimum mixing, independent of plant operating conditions.

Monitoring of the surrounding marine environment started before construction of the plant began and will continue into the future to ensure no adverse environmental impact.

[citation needed] While the plant was used quite intensively between 2013 and 2015, its utilisation has reduced due to greater water availability in metropolitan reservoirs and from the Murray River.

Based on this advice, ESCOSA allowed for SA Water to recover $4.1 million per year to cover the cost of operating the plant in minimum operation mode (approximately 8 GL/year), noting that doing so: In November 2019 an agreement was reached between the Australian Federal Government and the South Australian government to significantly increase production of water to supply the Adelaide metropolitan area.