In May 2019, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the restart of Sydney's desalination plant was progressing faster than expected. The A$2.3 billion plant had resumed operations in January and had been supplying the network for about six weeks, producing 300,000 to 400,000 m³ per week. Chief executive Keith Davies said full capacity of 250,000 m³/day, about 15 per cent of Sydney's drinking water needs, was expected by August rather than the licensed deadline of September. City storages had meanwhile fallen to about 54.6 per cent.
The report showed a desalination plant used as a drought reserve: it slowed the decline of the reservoirs but could not halt it on its own.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald