New recycled water pipe to drought-proof Sydney remains empty
Nobody wants to use Sydney Lord Mayor’s $1 million recycled water pipe and its for an unusual reason.
NSW
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Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s pipe dream of droughtproofing the City of Sydney with recycled water has resulted in an empty $1 million tube running the length of George St.
The mayor’s plan for the city’s own grey water pipeline has been dashed by a ruling from bean counters at the independent regulator that puts a premium surcharge on businesses re-using recycled water.
“It is scandalous that we still use precious drinking water to flush our toilets, water our gardens and wash our clothes,” Ms Moore said.
“In times of drought, recycling stormwater is not enough because it relies on rain. Governments should be supporting wastewater recycling to secure our water supply needs.”
Ms Moore’s pipe system is now in danger of becoming another white elephant with 5.6km of recycled water pipes running under the city centre. Small purple plates dot the pavements showing where they can be accessed to use for cleaning and irrigation.
The recycled water pipe would have cost $1 million to fit if the street had not already been dug up for the construction of the light rail.
It links the city to Barangaroo, where there is already a new water facility that recycles wastewater for flushing toilets and watering plants.
The facility was built when businesses were charged a straight trade waste fee by Sydney Water.
In January last year, regulator IPART changed that to a complex “retail minus” ruling that effectively allowed Sydney Water to charge a premium for putting recycled wastewater back into the system.
Since then no new recycling facilities have been built and the new pipe remains empty.
“This complex ruling increased Sydney Water's charge for the removal of waste through the sewerage system, and created uncertainty for commercial water recycling operators,” Ms Moore said.
She said if the ruling was scrapped and businesses encouraged to pump recycled water into the new system it could droughtproof the city.
“This network could drought-proof Hyde Park, supply council-owned buildings such as the heritage-listed Town Hall, and provide recycled wastewater for use in the cooling towers of major commercial buildings in the CBD,” Ms Moore said.
Every year the cooling towers and toilets at Town Hall and the fountains and irrigation systems at Hyde Park use almost enough water to fill 12 Olympic swimming pools — tap water that could be replaced with recycled wastewater.
“Every litre of recycled water used in the city is one less that has to be supplied from the Warragamba Dam,” Ms Moore said.
Alicia Maynard, chair of the Better Buildings Partnership, welcomed the installation of the pipeline.
“Access to a centralised recycled water supply system would prove to be the best solution to help businesses reduce potable water consumption,” she said.
Water Minister Melinda Pavey said: “I’m very supportive of recycled water, particularly as all of us are feeling the severity of this drought.”
But she said the IPART ruling protected all water users from subsidising water bills in the city. The City of Sydney council proposal for recycled water at Green Square would be subsidised by water users across the state to the tune of $10 million a year.
“The challenge is the tension between keeping water prices down for ratepayers across the whole of Sydney and the Illawarra, and encouraging further recycling.
“It is a balance. We will always ensure we protect the ongoing interests of the broader community,” she said.
IPART did not comment.