The Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Program

• The Irrigation and Landscape Efficiency Project (ILEP)
• Best practice guidelines (PDF - 6398KB)

Although greater Sydney stores a large amount of water, the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment experiences a highly variable rainfall. As Sydney's population increases, it will be harder to maintain a sustainable supply of drinking water for the community.

Many decades of development have left the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, which flows through urban areas and farm land, stressed from over-extraction. The Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Program improved river health by increasing water for environmental flows and reducing nutrients that enter the river system.

Sydney Water worked with the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Program to implement the Irrigation and Landscape Efficiency Project (ILEP). This project saved 1.09 gigalitres a year of drinking water by improving water efficiency for open space irrigation. This was achieved by using improved technology, land and site management practices.

Sydney Water customers using drinking water for irrigation are eligible for ILEP. This helped reduce the water taken from Sydney's dams and leave more water for environmental flows in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River.

                   

The Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Program is funded by the Australian Government through the Water for Future program.