Orchard Hills Water Filtration Plant reliability upgrade

Providing safe and reliable drinking water

We are upgrading our existing Orchard Hills Water Filtration Plant (WFP) to improve its reliability and resilience and ensure it continues to provide safe and reliable drinking water to meet the needs of Western Sydney's growing population.

About this project

The quality of water in Warragamba Dam can be impacted after large storm events, where there is increased run-off into the dam, heavy rainfall following bushfire events or extended drought periods. During these periods, it impacts the capability of the Orchard Hills WFP to supply drinking water that meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

To ensure we continue to supply drinking water to meet customer demands, we are planning to build a new facility at Orchard Hills WFP that will include:

• a screening chamber to remove debris, leaves and twigs
• a pre-treatment plant where contaminants (such as suspended solids, colour, algae and organic materials) are removed from the raw water, before the pre-treated water is then passed through the existing filtration processes. 
• an upgrade of existing chemical storage and handling facilities
• removal of disused buildings and concrete structures
• site works, including pipework, roadway and power supply upgrade.

Learn more about the existing plant filtration processs at Orchard Hills Water Filtration Plant.

Orchard Hills WFP was built in 1993 and supplies drinking water, sourced from Warragamba Dam to about 260,000 customers in the Penrith and Blue Mountains local government areas.

Benefits

The upgrade will ensure the Orchard Hills WFP can continue to meet the needs of Western Sydney's growing population and improve its reliability and resilience to supply high quality drinking water due to changing raw water quality in Warragamba Dam.