Sydney Water asks residents to conserve water amid clean water concerns

Sydney Water has urged residents from 34 flood-affected suburbs to limit their water usage as floods overwork water filtration systems.

Sydney residents are being urged to reduce their water usage as authorities express concerns over clean water supplies. Picture: NCA NewsWire / James Gourley

Sydney Water has urged residents from flood-affected suburbs to restrict their water usage as filtration systems are being pushed to the brink.

The alert applies to homes and businesses in Caddens, Cambridge Gardens, Cambridge Park, Castlereagh, Claremont Meadows, Colyton, Cranebrook, Dunheved, Emu Heights, Emu Plains, Erskine Park, Glenmore Park, Jamisontown, Jordan Springs, Kingswood and Kingswood Park.

It also includes Lemongrove, Leonay, Llandilo, Londonderry, Mt. Pleasant, North St. Mary’s, Orchard Hills, Oxley Park, Penrith Quarry Hill, Regentville, Ropes Crossing, South Penrith, St. Clair, St. Marys, Werrington, Werrington County and Werrington Downs.

“Heavy rain and floods have swept high volumes of leaves, dirt and other debris into the raw water catchment, making the usual demand for drinking water more difficult to meet. This has posed significant challenges for our Orchard Hills water filtration plant,” A Sydney Water statement read.

“As such, we are asking residents in this catchment area to reduce their water usage while our filtration systems are working harder than usual.”

“We understand Warragamba Dam is full and spilling at record rates, so it seems strange to ask our customers to voluntarily conserve water, but this helps us ensure a consistent supply,” General Manager Customer Delivery Bernie Sheridan told the Western Weekender.

“I really need to stress that the drinking water is clean, it is simply that the system’s ability to produce drinking water is slower than normal.

“All of our teams are working overtime due to very large levels of silt and debris entering our system, which ultimately slows down our ability to clean our water supply and provide clean drinking water to our customers.”

Residents are also urged to reduce non-essential water use such as hosing down their driveways post-floods, and engage in water conservation practices such as taking shorter showers.

More to come.