Frequently asked questions

What is water recycling?

Recycling means treating and using water that would otherwise be wasted � such as sewage, greywater and stormwater. Recycled water can be used instead of fresh drinking water for things such as garden watering, toilet flushing, clothes washing, car washing and in some factory processes.

The key role of recycling in the Metropolitan Water Plan is to reduce pressure on drinking water supplies by replacing it with recycled water where appropriate. The production of recycled water is, unlike the flows into our dams, almost independent of climate. Using this water can reduce reliance on highly variable rainfall and improve the security and reliability of Sydney�s water supplies in the face of future droughts, population growth and the potential impacts of climate change.

How much water is being recycled now?

The targets in the Metropolitan Water Plan and the State Plan are for Sydney to recycle 70 billion litres of water a year by 2015 and 100 billion litres a year by about 2032.

Together, large-scale schemes and individuals� efforts have already boosted Sydney�s current recycling volume to over 22 billion litres a year. This is more than the total amount of water supplied to the population of Gosford in a year.

Why doesn�t the Government recycle more stormwater?

Small-scale stormwater recycling schemes are usually the most feasible and cost-effective, and the Government is directly supporting many such schemes.

Although it might be an attractive idea to capture all the rainwater falling on Sydney, the cost would be very high compared to other water supply options, and there would also be significant social and environmental impacts. Sydney receives regular rainfall, but it is difficult to trap this rainfall on a large scale. To capture only 20 per cent of the average annual runoff would require around 150 dams on creeks or reservoirs dotted around Sydney, each holding 20 million litres. Because of its contact with fertilizers, petrochemicals and faeces, this water would require advanced levels of treatment. The water would then need to be supplied to households via dedicated recycled water pipes. Our urban creeks and estuaries also require some stormwater to ensure that they remain healthy.

What is happening to help households recycle?

The NSW Government is making it easier for individual homes to take up water recycling by simplifying the approval process for household greywater diversion systems and is providing education and training to councils, industry and households on the latest rules for greywater recycling.

Sydney is home to Australia�s largest household water recycling scheme at Rouse Hill. This scheme includes an advanced water treatment plant and a dedicated set of pipes that currently transport recycled water to over 17,000 homes for toilet flushing, garden watering and car washing. The scheme is now being expanded to eventually supply 4.7 billion litres of recycled water a year to around 36,000 homes.

By about 2030, over 230,000 homes in Western Sydney will be supplied with recycled water for toilet flushing, car washing and outdoor water use.

Already construction has started on a similar scheme to supply 0.9 billion litres of recycled water a year to new homes and new industries being built at Ropes Crossing, near St Marys. The next area to receive recycled water will be Hoxton Park, where over two billion litres of recycled water will be supplied to businesses and 16,000 homes by 2020.

The Government has also implemented reforms to encourage private recycling facilities for new apartment buildings. One of the first of these plants will be built in a 1,200 unit apartment block at Discovery Point in North Arncliffe. It is only the second project of its type in the world, and will supply recycled water for use in toilet flushing, laundries, car washing, cooling towers and garden watering.

What is being done to increase greywater recycling by households?

The NSW Government is making it easier for individual homes to take up water recycling by simplifying the approval process for household greywater diversion systems.

The Government is also providing education and training to councils, industry and households on the latest rules for greywater recycling.

Does industry use recycled water?

Since the Metropolitan Water Plan was released, Australia�s largest industrial use of recycled water commenced at Bluescope Steel, in the Illawarra. A new recycled water plant attached to the Wollongong sewage treatment plant is now producing 7 billion litres of recycled water a year for use on the Bluescope site.

Other schemes for industrial recycling under way include:

a large recycled water scheme to distribute recycled water from Fairfield to large industrial water users in the Camellia and Smithfield areas from 2010 � this will initially save 4.3 billion litres of drinking water a year
a project at Kurnell, where Caltex and Continental Carbon will use over two billion litres of recycled water a year from 2009, under a funding agreement with the NSW Government.

Could increased recycling replace the need for a desalination plant?

Already, plans are in place to recycle 100 billion litres a year. This is an ambitious but achievable target focused on implementing recycling where it is most cost-effective. Further recycling to replace the desalination plant would require treating sewage at coastal treatment plants such as Malabar, and then pumping the recycled water 60 km back to Warragamba Dam. The piping and energy costs of this approach make it at least $1 billion more expensive than taking the same volume of desalinated water the lesser distance from Kurnell to Erskineville.

Even in cities where recycled water is used to boost drinking water supplies, the volume of recycled water mixed into the water supply system is low as a proportion of the total supply system. In Singapore, for example, recycled water comprises only around 1% of the total water supply. This is expected to increase to 2.5% by 2011. The only country that directly recycles large volumes of treated sewage into the drinking water supply is Namibia, Africa.

The NSW Government�s policy is to use recycled water for non-drinking purposes, saving precious drinking water for drinking uses.

What is the Recycled Water Grid?

In general, providing recycled water to established urban areas of Sydney can be very costly and disruptive, which is why most of Sydney�s recycling is concentrated on new development areas in Western Sydney. However, through an exciting new project announced since the 2006 Metropolitan Water Plan was released, the Government plans to create a Sydney Recycled Water Grid that will supply an additional 30 billion litres of recycled water to established areas of Sydney.

The vision is for industry and businesses in southern Sydney and residents in new infill developments near the city, such as along Parramatta Road, at Redfern-Waterloo and in Green Square, to use recycled water for industrial and commercial processes, garden watering, cooling towers and toilet flushing.

The grid is based on three central recycled water pipelines:

Sydney Water�s $130 million Liverpool to Ashfield Pipeline, which is currently under construction. It will carry recycled water from western Sydney sewage treatment plants to industry and new housing developments across Sydney�s western and inner-western suburbs
A new $8 million pipeline connecting the Liverpool to Ashfield Pipeline with an existing recycled water plant operated by the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, providing recycled water to new developments on the Rhodes Peninsula and Homebush West
A new $10 million project in the southern Sydney CBD corridor near the airport, funded through the Government�s new Recycling and Stormwater Harvesting Program.

The NSW Government�s Recycling and Stormwater Harvesting Program under the Climate Change Fund will provide $100 million over five years to help businesses, councils and residential developers to connect to the grid.

What are the next steps to increase recycled water use in Sydney?

Continue construction of the extended Rouse Hill scheme, and build similar schemes in Western Sydney, starting with Ropes Creek and Hoxton Park
Provide recycled water to all the 180,000 new homes in Sydney�s north-west and south-west
Build the new recycled water scheme to supply large industrial users in the Camellia and Smithfield areas
Construct the new scheme to produce a further 18 billion litres a year of recycled water to substitute for current Warragamba Dam releases
Continue to support cost effective local-scale recycling and stormwater projects across the greater Sydney region
Supply recycled water to established areas of Sydney through the Sydney Recycled Water Grid.