Project record

Toukley desalination intake and existing-outfall connection

Current Toukley planning map showing the plant site, underground seawater intake tunnel, Jenny Dixon Beach shaft and offshore intake location

Central Coast Council; current preferred project map, a planning concept rather than construction evidence

Central Coast Council has settled the current EIS concept for a Toukley desalination plant: the seawater pump station stays beside the existing sewage treatment plant, a 2.4 km microtunnel reaches an intake about 1 km off Jenny Dixon Beach, and a short connection sends brine through the existing Norah Head ocean outfall. NSW lists the project at Prepare EIS. Council has neither decided to build nor funded construction.

Project signal

Planning in Australia

Current status Prepare EIS; the current concept fixes a 2.4 km intake tunnel and existing-outfall connection, but no construction decision or funding is public Source confidence Confirmed

Location

Australia / Asia Pacific

Segment

Marine utilities

Status

Prepare EIS; the current concept fixes a 2.4 km intake tunnel and existing-outfall connection, but no construction decision or funding is public / Confirmed

Last checked

20 July 2026

Coverage

Related sectors

Marine utilities is the primary work classification. Related sectors connect this record to adjacent marine delivery and market coverage.

Subject index

Related subjects

These subject pages bring together related projects, technical articles, reports, and evidence methods.

Project anatomy

Contract scope and delivery roles

Client / authority
Central Coast Council Water and Sewer
Delivery parties
GHD - concept design and statutory approvals support, Construction and marine contractors - not appointed in the cited public record
Contract route
Council appointed GHD to support concept design and statutory approvals. The public record does not identify a funded detailed-design, tunnelling, intake-caisson, process-plant or construction contract. Any later procurement remains conditional on approvals, water-security triggers, funding and a Council decision to proceed.
Execution window
Council is seeking a plan-ready approval rather than an immediate build. The EPBC referral uses 2036 as a conservative planning assumption, says construction could take about 36 months and says the plant may be needed in the early 2040s if drought triggers do not bring it forward. Council's March FAQ uses a broader three-to-four-year construction estimate. Neither is a committed start or completion date.
Works package
The current proposal allows an initial 30 ML/d reverse-osmosis plant and an assessment envelope up to 40 ML/d. Its marine scope includes a roughly 2.4 km, 2.5 m diameter microtunnel from the plant through an intermediate shaft to an intake about 1 km offshore; a roughly 12 m diameter intake tower with concrete caisson rings, a steel support frame, GRP dome, removable grills and rockfill scour protection; and a roughly 180 m brine connection to the Toukley sewage treatment plant outfall tank. A separate 1.4 km, 600 mm treated-water pipeline connects to the potable network.
Marine interfaces
Moving the pump station to the plant site removes the permanent beach pump-station option but concentrates delivery risk in the long microtunnel, the Jenny Dixon Beach construction and maintenance shaft, offshore caisson installation and tunnel-to-intake connection. Brine is proposed to co-mingle with treated effluent through the existing Norah Head ocean outfall, with no physical change to that outfall. Hydraulic capacity, near-field mixing, far-field plume behaviour and discharge approval therefore remain system-level gates rather than assumed benefits of an existing asset.
Commercial evidence boundary
There is no current marine construction opportunity supported by an owner tender or award. The next market evidence would be an exhibited EIS, approved project description, funded detailed design, geotechnical and marine survey packages, tunnelling or shaft procurement, intake-caisson fabrication and installation, or owner-issued process and integration packages. GHD's planning role should not be read as an EPC or construction award.

Project timeline

Material developments

Dated events that changed scope, counterparties, delivery, commissioning or operating status.

Open this project in the Change Log

The Commonwealth referral described the offshore intake and existing-outfall connection

EPBC 2026/10457 documented the 2.4 km microtunnel, intake about 1 km offshore, caisson concept and 180 m brine connection. The portal currently records Assessment Approach Determined, not final approval.

Source

Council fixed the current pump-station and intake-route concept

The preferred concept moved the pump station to the plant site and retained only a construction and maintenance shaft near Jenny Dixon Beach. It defines the EIS basis but does not authorise construction.

Source

Council opened the next planning and consultation stage

The owner began route and intake option work to make the scheme plan ready for a future drought response. That planning start was not a construction commitment.

Source

Evidence gap

What remains unverified

Outstanding evidence

  • EIS publication, exhibition and final project description
  • NSW and EPBC assessment decisions and approval conditions
  • Intake alignment, intermediate shaft and Jenny Dixon Beach access footprint
  • Marine geotechnical, bathymetric and ecology investigations
  • Far-field brine-plume modelling and existing-outfall hydraulic capacity
  • Detailed-design funding and procurement strategy
  • Microtunnelling, caisson fabrication and offshore installation packages
  • Pressure testing, flushing, water-quality trials and environmental acceptance

Related records 2

Reporting status

Planning, confirmed confidence

Last checked 20 July 2026 across 7 cited sources. The dated timeline above carries the project events.

Last checked 20 July 2026 Cited sources 7

Sources and related records

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Source collections

Project sources 7