The desalination plant in Sydney, Australia, which creates 250 million litres of vital drinking water per day, has an unexpected benefit of also attracting close to four times as many fish to the area, researchers revealed on Thursday.

The desalination plant in Sydney is one of the largest in the world, and in times of reduced rainfall, it supplies roughly 15 percent of the Sydney’s drinking water.

Now, a seven-year study by Southern Cross University (SCU) and the University of New South Wales has shown that in the areas where the plant discharges it’s excess salt — roughly 300 metres offshore — fish numbers have exploded by 279 percent.

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