Media Release

11 Sep 2006

Australia's Largest Water Recycling Scheme Commissioned

NSW Premier Morris Iemma today flicked the switch to begin final commissioning of Australia's largest industrial water recycling scheme at Wollongong.

The landmark project will enable BlueScope Steel to save over seven billion litres of drinking water each year.

The scheme, located at Sydney Water's Wollongong Recycled Water Plant, will produce very high grade water using a sophisticated reverse osmosis process.

This water will be pumped to a dedicated reservoir at Berkeley and from there it will be distributed and used in the steel-making process at the BlueScope plant at Port Kembla.

BlueScope Steel is Sydney Water's largest customer, with an average demand of around 37 million litres of fresh drinking water each day.

Once the commissioning of this groundbreaking facility is complete, a high proportion of wastewater flows from the Wollongong, Bellambi and Port Kembla catchments will be recycled for use at BlueScope Steel. On most nights, the equivalent of the city's entire wastewater output will be used by the steelworks.

The flows will gradually increase during the final commissioning process, eventually reaching 20 million litres per day.

Recycling treated wastewater is a key component of the NSW Government's Metropolitan Water Plan.

Sydney and the Illawarra already recycles around 15 billion litres of water each year and that figure will rise to 70 billion litres by 2015.

This scheme adds to Sydney and the Illawarra's 14 existing recycling schemes, including homes at Rouse Hill in Sydney's north-west, agricultural reuse at Richmond, Picton and Gerroa, various golf courses and at various sewage treatment plants.

The Wollongong recycled water scheme will:

• Reduce the draw on drinking water from Avon Dam by up to 20 per cent or 7.3 billion litres per year.
  
• Improve water quality at many Illawarra beaches, particularly those near the Bellambi, Wollongong and Port Kembla sewage treatment plants.
  
• Reduce ocean discharge from these plants by 40 per cent.
  
• Reduce impacts on sensitive marine environments.

This project is a classic example of where a recycled water scheme is both practical and cost effective.

Firstly, the customer has a constant and long term demand for the product.

Secondly, BlueScope is close to the recycled water plant, which keeps the costs of transporting the water down and consequently the price of the process water low.

Finally, the Wollongong sewage plant has sufficient space to house the extra treatment, storage and pumping infrastructure required.

This project is part of the $215 million Illawarra Wastewater Strategy (IWWS), which has been a boost for the Illawarra, creating more than 1000 jobs during the design and construction phases.

The final commissioning marks a tremendous milestone for the community, the environment and BlueScope Steel.

Sydney Water would like to thank all those involved in the project and the Illawarra community, particularly those who participated in consultative groups and helped make it a better project.

An open day will be held in the near future to allow the community to inspect the plant and to gain an understanding of the water recycling process.

For more information about other recycled water programs, go to the Recycling and Reuse and Sewer Mining content under Saving Water.

FACT SHEET

Water recycling at BlueScope Steel

Huge volumes of water are used around-the-clock in iron and steel making processes for cooling plant and equipment and for environmental purposes like reducing dust from roadways, trucks and stockpiles.

BlueScope Steel has already reduced its water consumption dramatically by introducing efficiency measures and increasing the internal recycling of water. It now takes 2,600 litres of water to make one tonne of slab steel compared to 5,500 litres per tonne 10 years ago.

BlueScope Steel's Port Kembla steelworks remains the largest consumer of fresh water in Sydney and the Illawarra. Approximately 37 million litres of water is used throughout the plant every day along with 850 million litres of salt water for cooling.

By using recycled water from the new plant, BlueScope will reduce their fresh water use by more than 50 per cent.

Inside the recycled water plant

Tertiary treated wastewater is forced through microfiltration units, which are packed with thousands of hollow fibres. Particles larger than 0.2 microns in diameter are captured by the fibres. Bacteria are typically larger than one micron, or a millionth of a metre.

The microfiltered water is forced again at high pressure through the even finer barriers of the reverse osmosis units. Coiled inside each reverse osmosis cylinder is a fine polymer membrane that blocks particles larger than 0.0001 micron, removing viruses, nutrients, dissolved metals and salts.

The water produced by reverse osmosis meets stringent NSW Health standards.

The treatment process includes online monitoring to ensure key water quality guidelines are met. If the recycled water does not meet these target specifications, automatic cut off mechanisms will ensure it is not delivered to BlueScope Steel.

Testing is undertaken by Sydney Water in its laboratories, which are accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA). The testing regime is audited to ensure accuracy.

Based on a comparison of the Australian Drinking Water Guideline health and aesthetic values and the target performance of the BlueScope recycled industrial water, the recycled water proposed for fire fighting poses a risk that is lower than or equal to the existing drinking water supply.

Recycled water is pumped to Sydney Water's reservoir in Berkeley, dedicated to supplying industrial and now recycled water to BlueScope Steel, from where it flows through two pipelines to the Port Kembla steelworks. The recycled water supply is completely separate from the community's drinking water system.

The recycled water plant can be extended to accommodate future customers' needs.

The Illawarra Wastewater Strategy

The $215 million Illawarra Wastewater Strategy (IWWS) is transforming wastewater management in the Illawarra, catering for population growth of around 20 per cent by 2021 and improving ocean water quality.

Construction on the project began in May 2002 and is now complete.

The scheme involves five main components:

• $141 million upgrade of Wollongong Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) to tertiary treatment.
  
• Creation of a $25 million recycled water plant at Wollongong STP.
  
• Construction of a 17 kilometre pipeline to transfer wastewater from Bellambi (north of Wollongong) and Port Kembla (south of Wollongong) to Wollongong STP.
  
• Conversion of the Bellambi and Port Kembla STPs to specialised storm flow plants to store and treat wastewater during prolonged wet weather. Ocean discharge from these plants will cease entirely for about 98 per cent of the time.
  
• A dual pipe, one kilometre ocean outfall at Wollongong to replace the existing near-shore ocean discharge point.

Wollongong's new wastewater system serves more than 190,000 people.

The conversion of the Port Kembla STP to a specialised stormwater plant was completed in early 2006, and the one kilometre ocean outfall at Wollongong STP was commissioned this August.

A new footbridge/cycleway has been built at Towradgi Creek, completing all pipeline construction work.

Bellambi sewage treatment plant was converted to a wet weather flow detention and treatment facility in March 2005, ahead of schedule.

Some of the older structures at the Bellambi site will be demolished. The process of decommissioning and site rehabilitation may be staged over several years.

In the longer term, Sydney Water plans to make some parts of the Bellambi site available for community use in consultation with key stakeholders such as Wollongong City Council and local resident and community groups.

Other works in the region

Construction of the $32 million project to amplify and upgrade the Shellharbour sewage treatment plant began in January 2005. The new plant will cater for future growth of 20,000 people in this rapidly developing area, and improve the quality of effluent reaching the ocean. The work is due for completion in late 2006.

Bombo sewage treatment plant has been expanded at a cost of $3.6 million to cater for an expected 20 per cent growth over the next 20 years. It will also treat sewage from the new scheme at Jamberoo as part the NSW Government's Priority Sewerage Program.

Construction so far on the Illawarra Wastewater Strategy

The 1999 Environmental Impact Statement for the Illawarra Wastewater Strategy examined a wide range of options for improving wastewater management in the region.

The current scheme was developed through extensive scientific research and community consultation. It met all criteria, including improving swimming conditions and protecting the marine environment. It was also the proposal most strongly supported by the broader Illawarra community.

Construction started in May 2002. At its peak, more than 250 people worked on the project and construction was spread across almost 20 kilometres of the Illawarra coastline.

Much of the new pipeline was laid in popular beachside and parkland areas, and along the Illawarra's busy coastal cycleway, requiring careful traffic management and close consultation with the community.

In three sections of the pipeline, two of them at Port Kembla, Sydney Water and its contractors used innovative horizontal directional drilling techniques to minimise impact on local communities and industry.

A 1.9 kilometre stretch of pipeline was laid under Wollongong city centre at an average depth of 20 metres. The diameter (around 900mm) and length of the bore broke a world record at the time and the drilling was completed in January 2003.

At the Wollongong plant, Sydney Water's contractors worked in a very limited space to build and fit out a number of major new structures. The largest of these is the 40 million litre per day bioreactor, which removes organic impurities from wastewater.

The bulk of construction was carried out by the Walter Constructions-Veolia Water Systems Joint Venture - specialists in design and construction of wastewater and water treatment plants worldwide. The project was completed under arrangement with Veolia Water Systems, after Walter Constructions entered into voluntary administration in February 2005.

 

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