Partnership to save Sydney's water

23 october 2009

Premier Nathan Rees announced today a new partnership with the City of Sydney to capture millions of litres of water from the streets of Sydney to protect our precious drinking water supplies.

Mr Rees said the partnership was the first of its kind between Sydney Water and Local Governments to harvest water from Sydney Water’s network.

“Up to 440 million litres of run off water will be saved from going down the drain,” Mr Rees said.

“That is the size of 440 olympic sized swimming pools or the total water used each year by around 2200 families.

“The project will start by capturing 50 million litres of water in and around Alexandria and re-using it for irrigation at Sydney Park.

“Council will build the infrastructure after the Government has given access to Sydney Water’s network and also committed $100,000 to monitor the scheme.

“I want to encourage other Councils to follow Sydney’s lead and adopt water saving programs like this,” said Mr Rees.

Stormwater can be treated and used for a range of purposes including:

• Irrigation of parks and playing fields
• Irrigation of parks and playing fields
• Industry uses
• Refill fountains and water features

Water Minister Phil Costa said that Sydney Water‘s network receives a quarter of Sydney’s total stormwater run off.

“I hope the Sydney Park project is the first of many more joint projects that will tap into this resource in the future,” Mr Costa said.

“New guidelines available from today will make it easier for councils to adopt local harvesting projects through our existing network.

Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore said Sydney Park was just one of several stormwater harvesting projects the City has implemented or has in the pipeline to create a sustainable water supply.

“The City has a number of reuse and efficiency projects underway or planned to achieve our goal of zero increase in potable water used by Council and across the local government area by 2015 based on 2006 levels,” Ms Moore said.

“At Sydney Park the scheme will provide additional water to improve the health of the wetlands and ultimately to irrigate the park.

“The City has completed consultation on the scheme and is aiming to have it operating by mid 2010.

“In the longer term, schemes such as the Sydney Park water harvesting proposal could be expanded so that recycled water would be available for other users, such as nearby local industries which may currently be using potable water.”