We collect and treat wastewater from homes and businesses so that it's safe to recycle, reuse or return to the environment.
Wastewater is the water used in homes, schools, businesses and industry. It's the water that goes down drains from bathrooms, laundries and kitchens including toilets, sinks, baths, showers and washing machines.
Wastewater is 99% water. The remaining 1% is made up of materials added to the water as it's being used.
Putting the wrong things down toilets, sinks or drains can cause blockages in your private pipes and our wastewater system. By taking care of what goes down the drain, you can help prevent overflows into homes, properties and waterways.
We treat millions of litres of wastewater every day to produce valuable resources.
When wastewater leaves your home or business, it enters our wastewater system.
We operate our wastewater systems and water resource recovery facilities to standards set by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and any requirements of our Operating Licence.
You can find your local water resource recovery facility on our wastewater systems map.
Learn about responsibility for your services.
We use different types of wastewater systems to service properties.
Most properties in Greater Sydney are connected to a gravity wastewater system.
To enable wastewater to flow by gravity within our system, wastewater pipes may need to be located underneath footpaths, roads, parks or within private property.
Wastewater from each property flows by gravity to our network of pipes in the street. Pumping stations are used to transport the wastewater to our water resource recovery facilities.
Our vacuum wastewater systems service nearly 3,000 properties across 11 suburbs in Sydney and the Illawarra.
We use vacuum wastewater systems in flat or low-lying areas where it is not possible to have a conventional gravity wastewater system.
Vacuum systems transport wastewater from multiple properties. The private wastewater pipes from each property are connected to a vacuum pot located on council land or in the front or back yard of one of the properties.
When the pot fills to a certain level, a valve inside the pot opens and wastewater is sucked by vacuum into plastic airtight pipes. The wastewater then moves along our network of pipes in the street to a specially designed pumping station, and is then pumped to the nearest point in our gravity wastewater system.
We've been using pressure sewerage systems since 2003 to service more than 8,000 properties in 26 suburbs across Greater Sydney.
Pressure sewerage systems are generally used in flat, wet, rocky, hilly or environmentally sensitive areas where conventional gravity systems are not a practical servicing option.
Pressure sewerage systems work by collecting wastewater in a tank installed on each property. A pump located inside each tank grinds the wastewater into a slurry and pumps it from each property through a small pipeline to our network of larger pipes in the street.
The wastewater then flows by pressure to one of our water resource recovery facilities.
Pressure sewerage equipment includes a:
Ownership and maintenance of the equipment will depend on the type and location of the property and who installed it.
After wastewater is transported through our pipes and pumping stations, it is treated at our water resource recovery facilities.
We use multiple steps to treat wastewater so it can be safely returned to the environment, or be reused to produce recycled water, biosolids or renewable energy. This includes primary, secondary, tertiary and advanced tertiary treatment processes.
The level of treatment determines where it can be released, such as a creek, river or the ocean, or how it can be reused.
Our North Head facility treats wastewater to produce biosolids and energy.
