Sydney Water & Ku-ring-gai Council join forces

Sewer mining project on golf course

Ku-ring-gai Council and Sydney Water have joined forces to switch on a new water recycling plant that will ensure Gordon golf course is always green.

Ku-ring-gai Mayor Ian Cross said the innovative project, worth $2.2 million, involved tapping into three Sydney Water sewer pipes underneath the golf course to extract wastewater, which is then treated at the plant and used for irrigation.

“We expect the project to harvest up to 110,000 kilolitres of water each year - enough to fill 44 Olympic-size swimming pools,” Cr Cross said.

“Water from the plant will be used for the greens and fairways. The fairways have not previously had irrigation so this will provide an added benefit for the course.

“The plant will allow the golf course’s irrigation supply to be totally self-sufficient, saving precious drinking water.”

Sydney Water recycled water strategist Ian Hammerton congratulated Ku-ring-gai Council for initiating the project and increasing the amount of water recycled in Sydney.

“Recycling plays an important part in the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Water Plan, with 35.8 billion litres of water recycled last financial year in Sydney and the Illawarra for residential, business, irrigation and environmental purposes. This figure will rise to 70 billion litres by 2015,” Hammerton said.

Cr Cross said the plant, built by Innaco Pty Ltd, used membrane bioreactor technology, a biological treatment and filtration process that produced high-quality recycled water.

“This is really cutting-edge technology that further builds on Ku-ring-gai Council’s success in reducing water consumption,” Cr Cross said.

“The recycled water will be stored in two large tanks which feed into the golf course’s irrigation system.”

Cr Cross said the NSW Government’s Climate Change Fund had contributed $830,000 to the project, with the remaining $1,370,000 coming from the Council’s Golf Course Improvement Reserve.

“Council has worked closely with Sydney Water, Department of Environment and Climate Change, NSW Public Works and Water and NSW Health,” Cr Cross said.

Hammerton said sewer mining was an innovative way to re-use wastewater which would otherwise be discarded.

“Sydney Water has been working with business customers on sewer mining projects for several years,” Hammerton said.

“The Pennant Hills and Beverley Park golf courses were among the first schemes to begin operating, and it’s great to have Gordon golf course on board.”