Industrial and commercial
By 2015, recycled water will be the main type of water supplied to most of the greater Sydney region’s largest industrial operations including BlueScope Steel, Shell Refining, Visy Paper, Marubeni Power and LyondellBasell Industries.
There are, however, some limitations on the use of recycled water in industry as it is not suitable for some processes in the manufacture of food and drinks.
The overall amount of water used by industry is just 12% of the water supplied in the Sydney region. Households use about 70%, while commercial and other types of properties use the rest
Industries are nevertheless making an increasingly important contribution to the region’s water savings, both through recycled water projects and Sydney Water’s Every Drop Counts program .
About seven billion litres of high quality recycled water a year is delivered to BlueScope Steel from a recycled water plant at Sydney Water's Wollongong Sewage Treatment Plant. This is one of Australia's largest industrial recycling schemes.
Recycled water makes up about 96% of the water used at Sydney Water’s sewage treatment plants, or about 15 billion litres a year.
The NSW Government has identified a number of projects to increase the use of recycled water by industry. The first of these is an innovative recycled water scheme in the Smithfield and Camellia areas in Sydney’s west. The Rosehill-Camellia Recycled Water Project, which will be delivered by the private sector, has the potential to initially save about 4.3 billion litres of water a year. Click here to see where the pipeline will be.
The NSW Government will continue to encourage projects to supply recycled water to industry where a ready supply source is located nearby or on-site.
To find out more visit the Sydney Water website or view Chapter 5 of the Plan.