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What's in the pipeline
As our population grows, our water and wastewater services continue to evolve. We're investing in major infrastructure, and working with the NSW Government and other agencies. We're planning more vibrant urban communities and helping developers make these a reality. We support the government's vision of 3 sustainable, productive and liveable cities – the Western Parkland City, the Central River City and the Eastern Harbour City – and incorporating the coastline city in the Illawarra.
We're planning new water and wastewater services for Sydney's West and South West.
The future of water
We're moving beyond traditional water servicing to consider alternative water servicing pathways and ways to provide more parks, trees and water bodies. We're looking for more opportunities for recycling and reuse as we enable a transition to water resilience, with less dependence on rainfall.
By 2056, we'll be providing water services to about 8 million customers. We see our role going beyond our current high-quality water and wastewater services, with water playing a lead role in cooling and greening the city.
Find the answers to many commonly asked questions in our Servicing growth areas fact sheet.
Decisions about building infrastructure
The Department of Planning and Environment is responsible for rezoning land and the sequence of land release in priority growth areas. It works in consultation with relevant local councils, NSW Government agencies and developers. We plan delivery of our trunk services to align with its land release program, but we also consider other factors.
Building infrastructure is expensive, so the timing of construction is important. Developments must be ready to connect to infrastructure soon after construction to be efficient and economical investments. For large areas, we often need to stage water and wastewater infrastructure to account for changes, like:
- the release and rezoning of precincts
- the logical extension and staging of infrastructure
- large consolidated land holdings that increase the chance and rate of large-scale development occurring.
Building infrastructure is expensive, so the timing is crucial.
From time to time, we may need to acquire privately owned land or establish an easement to build or upgrade infrastructure. Find out more from our Property acquisition fact sheet.
When we're building wastewater infrastructure we need to create maintenance holes so that we can access the network and build vent shafts to allow air to move through the system. Sometimes these are on private land. Find out more about maintenance holes and ventilation shafts.
If you're a builder or developer and want to build near our infrastructure, read our technical guide about Building over and adjacent to pipe assets.
We're helping to bring the NSW Government's Western Parkland City vision to life.
Western Parkland City
Unprecedented investment in Western Sydney is driving an exciting transformation centred around Greater Sydney's new second airport. In the hottest and driest part of Sydney, water is essential for a greener, cooler vibrant urban development.
We're delivering infrastructure and services to support the NSW Government's Parkland City vision, aligned to the Western Sydney Aerotropolis Plan priority precinct releases.
Locations are Badgerys Creek, Bankstown, Bonnyrigg, Cabramatta, Canley Vale, Cecil Park, Cecil Hills, Kemps Creek, Middleton Grange, Hoxton, Luddenham, Landsdowne, Mulgoa, Orchard Hills, St Marys, Villawood, Warragamba, Liverpool, Hoxton Park, Blacktown and Penrith.
Learn more about our plans for the new Western Parkland City.
Lower South Creek Treatment Program
Sydney's North West is growing, with half a million people expected to live and work in the area by 2040. To ensure we're ready to meet future demand, we've started the $450 million Lower South Creek Treatment Program (LSCTP). This is one of the largest wastewater programs in the country. It includes:
- increasing the size and capacity of our Riverstone Water Resource Recovery Facility
- upgrading our water resource recovery facilities at Quakers Hill and St Marys.
Delivered by a joint venture between UGL Limited and WSP, the Lower South Creek Treatment Program introduces new leading-edge wastewater technology that delivers significant sustainability benefits. The Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) has given the program the highest-ever rating for an Australian water infrastructure project.
We'll be producing more renewable electricity at St Marys Water Resource Recovery Facility.
The program is set to achieve a 42% reduction in whole-of-life greenhouse gas emissions. It earned an Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) Design 'Excellent' rating of 69.7 points for using innovative processes and technologies such as the transfer of sludge for consolidated biosolids processing and installation of mechanical primary sedimentation screens. These were Australian firsts.
The program's innovative wastewater technologies include:
- using leading-edge energy-efficient wastewater technology from the Netherlands at Quakers Hill to significantly lower the carbon footprint
- thermal hydrolysis processing at St Marys that reduces the end product volume, improving dewatering and biogas production, and also reduces energy costs by producing more renewable electricity on site.
The Riverstone Water Resource Recovery Facility Upgrade became operational in January 2019. It can serve up to 90,000 new residents. Work is now progressing at our Quakers Hill and St Marys sites. We expect the work to be completed by the end of 2022, weather permitting.
To find out more, call us on 1800 870 767 or email lowersouthcreek@sydneywater.com.au.
We'll deliver infrastructure in stages to cater for the large amount of development in the North West Growth Area.
North West Growth Area
The North West Growth Area is made up of 16 precincts that will accommodate about 33,000 new homes over the next 10 years. Due to the size of the area, we'll deliver the infrastructure in stages and in conjunction with rezoning.
We'll deliver infrastructure to meet development timeframes. We work closely with other agencies including councils and the Department of Planning and Environment to ensure we're servicing the right areas at the right times. See our Growth Servicing Plan to see timeframes for infrastructure development.
We'll continue to consult with affected stakeholders throughout the planning, design and construction process. This includes government agencies, landowners, developers and the wider community.
Package 1: Delivered drinking water and wastewater infrastructure to Alex Avenue and Riverstone precincts. This included a new reservoir at Rouse Hill, and drinking water, wastewater and recycled water infrastructure to North Kellyville. Completed in 2011.
Packages 2 and 3A: Delivered drinking water and wastewater infrastructure to Alex Avenue, Box Hill, North Kellyville, Riverstone, Schofields and Vineyard. Completed in 2015.
North Kellyville Stringer Road project: Delivered wastewater lead-in mains. Completed in 2014.
North Kellyville Foxall Road project: Delivered wastewater lead-in mains, connected to the Cattai Creek wastewater carrier. Completed in 2015.
Riverstone wastewater lead-in mains: Completed in 2016.
Package 3B: Delivered wastewater infrastructure to Alex Avenue, Box Hill, Box Hill Industrial and Schofields precincts. Completed in 2018.
We're building new wastewater infrastructure to cater for high-rise development in Liverpool CBD.
Liverpool CBD
Upgrades to the existing wastewater network are needed in parts of Liverpool CBD to service new high-density developments. We're delivering these services as a priority to meet specific development timeframes.
Liverpool CBD is 28 kilometres west of Sydney, on the western bank of the Georges River. Although development is well progressed in Liverpool, major high-rise developments are proposed along Castlereagh Street, Macquarie Street and Copeland Street, which would have exceeded the capacity of our existing wastewater infrastructure. We've prioritised servicing this area to meet the development timeframes.
Work should be completed in 2022.
South West Growth Area
The South West Growth Area comprises 18 precincts across 17,000 hectares south of Elizabeth Drive to Oran Park. It includes both Camden and Liverpool local government areas. Due to the size of the area and the amount of work, we'll deliver the required infrastructure in stages.
We're building new drinking water and wastewater infrastructure to service about 200,000 new homes over the next 10 years.
We'll deliver the infrastructure to meet development timeframes. We work closely with other agencies, including council and the Department of Planning and Environment, to ensure we're servicing the right areas at the right time.
We're building water and wastewater infrastructure to serve about 200,000 homes.
As work started in 2015 and will continue to 2030, many things could influence timing. Factors that affect the staging of the water and wastewater in the area include:
- the release of precincts
- the rezoning of precincts
- the logical extension and staging of infrastructure
- large consolidated land holdings that increase the chance and rate of large-scale development occurring.
Austral and Leppington wastewater – Stages 1 and 2
Denham Court wastewater carrier
Oran Park wastewater – Stage 1
SWGA 2nd release water
Leppington reservoir water
Wilton Growth Area
We're planning new drinking water, wastewater and recycled water services for about 15,000 new homes in Wilton, in the Wollondilly Shire. We'll be delivering infrastructure in stages until 2025 to service growth demand.
We've been investigating water management system options to accommodate the expected growth and meet projected demands for water-related services to 2046.
Next steps
The development of Wilton will require significant water-related infrastructure, such as new reservoirs, trunk mains, pumping stations and treatment facilities. This infrastructure and the timing of delivery depend on development uptake. Our delivery will be staged to match development demand.
As development of rural land in Wilton progresses, we'll stage our infrastructure to meet demand.
- We'll supply drinking water from Macarthur Water Filtration Plant, building assets primarily along existing infrastructure routes. We may need up to 2 reservoirs, depending on growth.
- Wastewater treatment will be done locally within Wilton. There may need to be an interim wastewater servicing solution. In this case, we'll consider packaged water resource recovery facilities and irrigation within the development area. We'll also support a pilot or research project for further nutrient management using rain gardens, which could potentially offset the need for reverse osmosis treatment.
- Wastewater collection will be a combined pressure and gravity network depending on the terrain. This will reduce the number of pumping stations and construction can be staged with growth.
- We'll maximise recycle water use within the catchment through a dual reticulation system to supply residential dwellings and irrigate active and passive open spaces (including landscaping). It will also potentially supply commercial and light industrial premises. Providing recycled water will help reduce the amount of wastewater being discharged and the nutrient loads on receiving waters. It will also provide an alternative water source during periods of drought or low rainfall to help green the community. We may need up to 2 recycled water reservoirs depending on growth.
Covering about 500 hectares, this growth area in the Illawarra will need services for about 30,000 homes.
West Dapto Urban Release Area and Adjacent Growth Areas
The West Dapto Urban Release Area and Adjacent Growth Areas are about 15 kilometres south-west of Wollongong, within Wollongong and Shellharbour City Council areas. Covering about 550 hectares, the area will need new water and wastewater infrastructure for about 30,000 homes and non-residential development by 2048. Due to timeframes and the size of the area, we'll be delivering the infrastructure in stages.
Areas covered include Avondale, Cleveland, Kembla Grange, Sheaffes/Wongawilli, West Horsley, and Yallah/Marshall Mount. Adjacent areas Calderwood, Huntley, Tullimbar and Tallawarra.
We worked closely with many stakeholders while developing our plan, including:
- the Department of Planning and Environment
- local councils
- relevant state agencies
- the Illawarra Urban Development Committee
- the local community.
We're committed to minimising our impact on the environment and prepared an environmental assessment under the former Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Since then, the forecast demand for water and wastewater infrastructure and the approval framework has changed. In January 2016, we modified the area covered by our environment assessment to only include infrastructure needed in Kembla Grange, Sheaffes/Wongawilli and West Horsley.
We'll complete environmental assessments as needed for the remaining areas (Avondale, Calderwood, Cleveland, Huntley, Tallawarra, Tullimbar and Yallah/Marshall Mount). We'll continue to consult with affected stakeholders while we plan, design and build infrastructure. This includes government agencies, landowners, developers and the community.