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Tours of Sydney Water facilities
Tour the Wollongong Wastewater Treatment Plant
Where is the plant?
The Wollongong Wastewater Treatment Plant is on Port Kembla Road, Wollongong.
What will we see there?
The plant services about 200,000 people and treats wastewater to an advanced tertiary standard .
It contains a purpose-built water recycling plant. This plant recycles much of the treated wastewater, using reverse osmosis . This recycled water is used in industry at BlueScope Steel.
You'll see many wastewater treatment processes including screening, settling, biological nutrient removal, filtering and disinfection. The plant also turns waste materials into biosolids for use in agriculture.
The highly treated wastewater that isn't recycled is piped one kilometre offshore. The tour explains how this deepwater ocean outfall and the advanced treatment processes have improved water quality at Wollongong's beaches.
What happens on the tour?
The tour takes about two hours and includes a multimedia presentation and site tour.
The group will be met by the tour leader and escorted through the plant and briefed about the treatment processes.
Health and safety
Everyone on tour must follow our instructions. These include:
- wearing sturdy covered shoes (no thongs or sandals)
- switching off mobile phones
- not touching equipment
- washing hands after the tour
- not smoking, eating or drinking during the visit.
You may need to wear safety hats and communication systems (Sydney Water supplies this equipment).
All plants contain stairs and you must be able to climb them.
In an emergency, you may have to go up about 300 steps from the underground area of the plant.
More about the Wollongong Wastewater Treatment Plant (includes recycling) (PDF - 227KB)
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