Plans for recycled water network underway
Sydney is set to become the first Australian city to have a city-wide recycled water network after the City of Sydney selected a group to develop a decentralised water master plan for the LGA.
The group, selected after a competitive tender process, compromises of the Institute of Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, GHD engineering consultants, and Public Private Partnership Consultants P3iC.
The group will develop different business models to implement the water plan to reduce demands on drinking water supplies.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the water plan would make better use of our water resources with an increasing population.
“In the longer term our drinking water supplies will come under increasing pressure from a growing population and climate change with hotter and dryer weather predicted over the coming decades,” Ms Moore said.
“The recycled water network is part of a long term strategy to make better use of our water resources and will provide a model for other Australian cities.”
Under the plan, an estimated 80 per cent of water could be supplemented by recycled water including laundry, air conditioning, and irrigation.
The City of Sydney LGA currently imports 32 gigalitres of drinking-quality water each year, largely from Warragamba Dam.
The recycled water network would connect to apartment, commercial and institutional buildings which are responsible for 80 per cent of the water consumption in the LGA.
Under the plan, it would allow buildings to take recycled water from the network and to supply any excess recycled water to the network.
Chief Development Officer, Energy and Climate Change, Allan Jones, said the network will be closely looked at to ensure it is implemented properly as it will be the first in Australia to be used.
“The plan will also look at the business models to implement the network and any regulatory barriers that may prevent or limit the implementation of this very much needed climate change adaptation measure,” he said.
According to the City of Sydney, the plan will also identifies projects that will be help assist the City to achieve its target of 50 per cent reduction in pollutants entering waterways and control the release of stored stormwater during heavy rain to limit flooding.
By Sophie Cousins
