Report a fault
or leak: 13 20 90
Water recycling plants
The wastewater transported to the water recycling plants has already gone through many treatment steps, including filtering, to remove nearly all biodegradable organic material and nutrients. It has also been disinfected.
The tertiary-treated wastewater then undergoes several further processes that may include:
- passing through a mechanical strainer
- ultra filtration to remove any particles of organic matter that may still be present
- reverse osmosis that is like very fine sieves that extract water and leave behind a wastewater concentrate
- decarbonators that reduce the carbon dioxide in the water
Water recycling plants treat wastewater to NSW Health standards so that it is suitable and safe for its intended use.
Sydney Water owns 13 water recycling plants, 12 of which it operates and one (Gerringong-Gerroa) is operated by Veolia.
| Treatment plant | Treatment level | Discharge (ML/ day)1 |
Population | Discharge location |
| Bombo | Secondary and denitrification and disinfection | 3.6 | 14,700 | Headland north of Bombo Beach |
| Castle Hill | Tertiary (Includes additional Phosphorus removal and disinfection) |
6.5 | 24,700 | Cattai Creek |
| Gerringong-Gerroa | Tertiary (Includes additional Phosphorus removal and ozonation, microfiltration, activated carbon and disinfection) |
0.7 | 5,600 | Reused for on-site agricultural irrigation. Excess is discharged to sand dune systems. Once sand dunes reach capacity, excess is discharged to Crooked River. |
| Glenfield | Partial tertiary (Includes screening, storm tank or primary sedimentation, ponding and chlorination) |
0 | 155,500 | Treated wastewater transported to Malabar; occasionally discharged to Georges River in wet weather. |
| Liverpool | Secondary (Includes screening, degritting, primary sedimentation, ponding and chlorination) |
0 | 122,000 | Treated wastewater transported to Malabar; occasionally discharged to Georges River in wet weather. |
| Picton | Tertiary (Includes additional Phosphorus removal and disinfection) |
1.5 | 10,200 | Re-used on-site for agricultural irrigation. Precautionary discharge to Stone Quarry Creek. |
| Penrith | Tertiary (Includes additional Phosphorus and Nitrogen removal and disinfection) |
22.4 | 96,600 | Re-use locally and at Hickey's. Remainder transferred to St Marys advanced water treatment plant. Some excess discharged to Boundary Creek. |
| Quakers Hill | Tertiary (Includes additional Phosphorus and Nitrogen removal and disinfection) |
31.1 | 144,700 | Re-use locally and at Ashlar. Remainder transferred to St Marys advanced water treatment plant. Some excess discharged to Breakfast Creek. |
| Richmond | Tertiary (Includes additional Phosphorus removal and disinfection) |
2.2 | 7,800 | Re-used for irrigation at the UWS Richmond Campus. Excess overflows to Rickabys Creek. |
| Rouse Hill | Tertiary (Includes additional Phosphorus and Nitrogen removal and disinfection) also includes ultra violet irradiation and super chlorination for reuse water |
15.3 | 69,200 | Recycled back to households for non-potable use. Excess discharged to Second Ponds Creek via wetlands to Cattai Creek. |
| St Marys2 | Tertiary (Includes ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, decarbonation, additional Phosphorous & Nitrogen removal & disinfection) |
33.5 | 141,700 | Re-use locally and at Dunheved with remainder discharged to Nepean River. Some excess discharged to South Creek. |
| West Camden | Tertiary (Includes additional Phosphorus removal and disinfection) |
10.7 | 55,700 | Reuse at Agricultural Institute. Remainder discharged via Matahill Creek to the Nepean River. |
| Wollongong | Tertiary and disinfection | 40 | 191,400 | Reuse at Bluescope steelworks. Discharge of remainder via offshore outfall with diffuser zone. |
1 Average daily dry weather discharge.
2 Wastewater from St Mary's, Penrith & Quakers Hill Water Recycling Plants is transferred to the St Mary's Advanced Water Treatment Plant for further treatment (reverse osmosis) which then discharges 50ML/day of highly treated water back to the Nepean River at Penrith. The Advanced Water Treatment Plant takes up to 64ML/day from those 3 plants, leaving around 25ML/day of treated water to be disharged to South Creek and up to 8ML/day of wastewater that can be transferred to North Head for treatment and discharge to the ocean.