One of the biggest and most innovative water infrastructure projects in Sydney has started in the inner west, with the City of Canada Bay taking the lead on saving water.
City of Canada Bay Mayor Angelo Tsirekas said the $3.7 million water-harvesting project would save the community around 188 million litres of water per year.
The project has been made possible thanks to a $1.89 million grant from the Australian Government’s Water for the Future initiative, $937,000 from the NSW Government’s Climate Change Fund and Council funding.
“The project will provide an alternative supply of irrigation for the community’s 220 hectares of open space via a harvesting system which will reuse up to 188 million litres of water per year, reducing the reliance on potable water,” Mayor Tsirekas said.
“This is one of the most innovative and sustainable projects in local government in NSW and we are recycling and re-using water that otherwise would have flowed into the Parramatta River.”
The treated stormwater will be used to irrigate community and Council facilities that attract residents and visitors for sporting and recreational activities.
“Community use of recreational facilities is expected to grow by 19 per cent over the next 30 years and with our expected population growth, providing maintained open space will be as important as ever,” Mayor Tsirekas said.
“Our facilities are used by more than 350,000 people per year and during dry periods, they cannot be maintained to an optimum condition. This project provides long-term water security for our community”.
The project will deliver the following outcomes:
Since 2002, the City of Canada Bay has introduced a range of initiatives that have resulted in water savings equal to 6.5 Olympic-sized pools of drinking water each year.
These have included:
Cintra Hockey Water recycling project - saving 4.5 million litres of water each year;
Powells Creek Reserve stormwater harvesting project – saving two million litres of water each year;
Drummoyne Oval stormwater and rainwater harvesting project – saving nine million litres of water each year;
Weather stations for irrigation – saving 20,000kL litres of water each year;
Concord Oval rainwater reuse for irrigation – saving 75,000kL litres of water each year;
Rainwater reuse and waterless urinals at Concord Library, Cabarita Pool and Council depot;
Irrigation landscape efficiency improvements - at eight key sporting fields across the local government area;
Leak reduction program – saving 3.7 million litres of water across 165 sites; and
Water efficiency improvements – saving 1.6 million litres of water across eight Council sites.
Work on the initial stage of the project recently commenced at Cintra Park and Council has commenced an ongoing consultation and communication program with residents, sports associations and other users of its major facilities.