Alex, Joe, Jonathan, Willard, Kevin, and Jacob

Purpose
Our IB Class wet to Rottnest for 3 days to
research sustainability from the four parts of
IB Group 4 subjects, which consists of Biology,
Physics, Chemistry and Design & Technology.
 Sustainability
Sustainability is the ability to sustain life. We
researched into how Rottnest is able to
sustain life, as in waste management, power
and water. We also took into account how
Rottnest would cope with future growth.
 Power Usage
Power at Rottnest is divided between Wind Power
and Diesel Generators.

Rottnest has an annual power requirement of

4,650,000 Kilowatt Hours.

50% of this power is used

solely for businesses.

About 35% of the power

generated at Rottnest is from
Wind Power.
Power (Continued)
On the island there are 7
Diesel Generators, 4 main
and 3 back-up generators.

The island uses over $1

million worth of diesel a
year.

That is on average 2,150

litres of diesel a day!

Generators have a
maximum output of 1,100
Kilowatts
 Power (Continued)
In 2004 the Wind Turbine
was built. Since then it has
saved approximately 1.6
million litres of diesel and it
can operate in wind speeds
ranging from 7 km/h to 130
km/h!

The turbine is expected to

save $400,000 and 1,100
tons of green house gasses,
40% Rottnest’s green
house gas output!
 Power (Continued)
The cost per Kilowatt hour on Rottnest is
$0.33, in comparison, the price in Perth is
$0.139 per Kilowatt hour. Most of this is due
to energy lost in low-voltage transmission of
power.

Businesses have introduced

power saving measures such as
solar power, water heaters, and
smart building designs.
 Power (Continued)
Wind measurements reached speeds of 13.65
m/s, which is 49.15 km/h.
 Waste Management
A problem for sustainable
life is waste management,
what can we do with it?

Up until 1995, Rottnest

housed a landfill, but
it had started to outgrow
its size.

Today, Rottnest has systems in place to deal with

Waste Water, Recyclable Garbage, and General
Garbage.
 Waste Management
(Continued)
Waste water is processed using a
Cyclic Activated Sludge System
(CASS). It is automated, so there
is only one employee who only
needs to check the site 3-times a
week.

Using this system, raw sewage

can be converted to water
suitable for drinking within hours.

Each Year, it can handle 100,000

Kilolitres enters the waste water
management plant. This is 800
Kilolitres per day, and on New
Years Eve (the day with most
inflow), there is 650 Kilolitres of
waste water produced.
 Waste Management
(Continued)
The CASS presses sludge out of the
dirty water to separate the waste from
the water and then the remaining waste
is transferred to the
waste management program.

The water that is left is either

evaporated or sent into tanks where it
is chlorinated. All deadly bacteria is
wiped out in this process.

None of this water is used for drinking,

it is used for other things, such as
watering the oval.
 Waste Management
(Continued)
In 1996, Rottnest introduced a recycling program
and a organic material composting program. In
2006, $1.5 million was dedicated to expand and
improve the waste management program, in a
step to make it more sustainable for the future.

Before this 97% of garbage

at the landfill was
recyclable!
 Waste Management
(Continued)
1.8 cubic metres of
general garbage (non-
recyclable) is shipped
on a barge to the
main-land every
second day in
summer, and every
second week in
winter. This waste is
taken to Canningvale.
This greatly reduces
the amount of waste
taken to the landfill.
 Desalination
75% of the drinking water at
Rottnest comes from
desalination. Water is pumped
up from shallow bores and
then it is filtered to remove
sand and other fine material.

The water is out under high-

pressure for reverse osmosis.
Salt gets rejected when the
water is passed through a
membrane.

For the future, they have

considered digging for fresh
water, but it is expensive, and
salt water has started leaking
into the underground water
system.
 Rottnest Wildlife
The human settlement on
Rottnest has had a
profound effect on the
wildlife. Early settlers
burned native bush to
make room for farming
and houses, destroying
significant parts of the
islands ecosystem.
Quokkas used to be a
commonly hunted animal,
replacing the effect of
natural predators wiped
out by human habitation,
and the stopping of this
practice has led to the
explosion of the quokka
population.
 Rottnest Wildlife
(continued)
Despite the impact of
human settlement, the
ecosystem has recovered
under the protection of a
extensive national park
protected status. Only
recreational fishing is
allowed, and strict
guidelines are placed on
this. Large amounts of
unsettled land are
considered national park
as well.
Rottnest Wildlife
(Continued)
One of the most important
parts of the island is the salt
lakes in the centre of the
island. The shallow salt lakes
support large plankton
populations, are as a result
are a important food source
for most of Rottnest’s birds,
and other wildlife. Many of
the birds migrate to Rottnest
to breed, and as a result
these breeding areas are
heavily protected. This fragile
ecosystem needs to be
protected from dangers such
as lowering of the water
table, caused by boring and
large scale desalination , as
the affect the salinity of the
lakes with affects up through
 Conclusion
Rottnest is sustainable for the near future and
can sustain growth. There are options to
increase power and improve the waste
management systems, such as the proposed
additional desalination plant as well as
another wind turbine.

Thank you for listening!