Recycling and Reuse - What It Is

A number of terms are used in talking about reusing water for homes or other purposes.

• Water reuse - making use of water from diverse sources, other than the fresh drinking water supply.
• Direct reuse - involves using rainwater, greywater, stormwater or wastewater without treatment.
• Recycled water (sometimes called 'reclaimed water') - wastewater or stormwater treated to a high standard as appropriate for particular uses in homes, agriculture or industry.
• Sewer mining - the process of tapping directly into a sewerage system, (either before or after a sewage treatment plant), and extracting wastewater for treatment and reuse as recycled water.
• Greywater - the wastewater generated in homes, except from the toilet. Depending on the purpose, greywater may be used treated or untreated.
• Blackwater - all of the components of domestic sewage.
• Stormwater - runoff from roofs, roads and driveways. Stormwater must generally be treated for use. Water caught in rainwater tanks is suitable for some uses.

Under the Metropolitan Water Plan, the NSW Government has a range of initiatives to save our precious drinking water, including recycling.

Sydney Water operates about 15 recycling schemes and provides rebates for installing rainwater tanks.

While local councils are responsible for 95 per cent of our stormwater drainage, the NSW Government is considering various forms of stormwater harvesting, particularly in areas where there is existing storage capacity or sufficient space for new storage facilities.