In August 2021, Trenchless Australasia reported that the New South Wales Government had given planning approval to a Hunter Water desalination plant at Belmont. The plant was meant to supply up to 30 million litres of drinking water a day during drought (30,000 m³/day). Seawater would be drawn about 1 km offshore at roughly 20 m depth through a trenchless pipeline under the seabed. The trigger: water storage in the Lower Hunter had fallen to its lowest level in almost 40 years. Construction was expected to take about three years.
The report showed desalination as a drought reserve: Hunter Water secured approval as a precaution, while saying that it was unlikely to need to build the plant.
Source: Trenchless Australasia