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Dinosaur find delays project
27/11/2007 12:39 - (SA)
Canberra - A hoard of dinosaur bones has
been discovered at the site of a planned desalination plant
meant to deliver Australia's second biggest city from drought,
forcing a re-think of the three billion dollar project.
The fossilised bones, estimated to be 115 million years old
and belonging to dinosaurs and ancient marine reptiles, were
found on a windswept beach in front of the planned project at
Powlett River, southeast of Melbourne.
"It's like boring through the tombs of Egypt's ancient
emperors or drilling through the terracotta warriors in China
after they were discovered," local opposition lawmaker Ken
Smith told Reuters, demanding a study before the project
proceeds.
"Those ancient sites were important to the world and so is
this here," he said.
Much of Australia has been in drought for more than a
decade, with international climate scientists warning the dry
could be the harbinger of global warming.
Melbourne plans to build one of the world's biggest water
desalination plants to drought-proof the city, with
construction to begin next year and up to 150 billion litres of
drinking water a year flowing by 2011, rivalling a plant in
Israel.
The plant will extract salt from sea water through reverse
osmosis, discharging salt waste into the ocean and pumping the
purified water 85km to Melbourne.
Monash University researcher and dinosaur expert Lesley
Cool was quoted by local papers as saying there was evidence of
dinosaurs, teeth, bones and vertebrae. "The rocks were
deposited at a time when Australia was in the polar circle,"
she said.
Other remains on the site included the teeth of pleisosaurs, a
small and long-necked reptile which lived in rivers, and the
two-legged, plant-eating dinosaur qantassaurus.
Victoria state Water Minister Tim Holding is yet to commit
to an environmental impact report on the site of the bones.
"We will take all environmental and cultural issues into
consideration when determining the final specifications," a
spokesperson said.
- Reuters
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