JERSEY Water has taken its first steps towards upgrading the Island’s ageing desalination plant as Islanders are warned not to rely on water processing as an answer to drought. Jersey Water is seeking a senior project manager, project manager and project officer to help deliver the major upgrade, which is intended to increase the plant’s output by 50%. Jersey Water said the new team would help strengthen the Island’s water resilience as well as drive forward other infrastructure projects. The desalination plant has been operating since 1970 and was upgraded in 1999 to use reverse osmosis – a process which removes salt from seawater. “The current plant, most of which is more than 40 years old, can only meet around half of the Island’s daily water needs.”