The City of Sydney plans to roll out a city-wide system of stormwater recycling to reduce harbour pollution and ensure Sydney's water supply never runs out.

 

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the City's research showed more than half of Sydney's future water demand could be met with non-drinking water.

 

"We need to take strong decisive action now to drought-proof our city and ensure we are less dependent on dam levels," the Lord Mayor said.

  

"The stormwater run off from roofs, roads, paths, parks and other open areas is a valuable alternative supply of water for non- drinking purposes."

 

"Our stormwater harvesting initiative at Sydney Park is the kind of program we plan to install in parks and open spaces across Sydney."

 

"We will harvest and recycle stormwater, and use the recycled water for irrigating, flushing toilets and high-rise cooling towers."

 

The Decentralised Water Master Plan aims to:

  • Improve water efficiency in buildings across the City of Sydney to save 10 per cent on the 2006 demand by 2030
  • Cut a quarter of water use in City buildings, parks and open spaces by 2030
  • Halve the 26 billion litres of stormwater run-off into Sydney Harbour and Botany Bay
  • Replace 54 per cent of drinking water used for non-drinking purposes with recycled water
  • Water sensitive urban design, including rain gardens, swales, infiltration trenches within streetscapes and permeable pavers on footpaths to filter or retain stormwater and reduce pollution discharged into waterways
  • Diversify water sources to include recycled and treated waste water, stormwater, groundwater, roof water and sea water to reduce dependence on the drinking water supply.

 

The majority of Sydney's current water demand is met through drinking water supplied from Warragamba Dam and piped 68 kilometres to the city, which wastes a significant amount of energy. But consumers only drink two per cent of the drinking water they use every day, the rest being used for non-drinking purposes.

 

Even after taking into account other uses for water, such as food preparation, cooking and personal hygiene, less than a fifth of water used in the household needs to be of drinking quantity.

 

Population growth by 2030 will increase water demand in the City of Sydney area by 30 per cent.

 

Office and apartment blocks are by far the largest users of water and would save on water use with fairly simple measures such as promoting water efficient tap and shower heads and fixing cooling tower leaks.

 

The City has been reducing pollution through waste management, street cleaning, trapped gully pits and natural treatments such as rain gardens and wetlands to reduce the impact on waterway and marine health.

 

The Decentralised Water Master Plan is part of the City's Green Infrastructure Plan, which is designed to deliver the greenhouse gas reduction and environmental targets in the Sustainable Sydney 2030 program.