Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne gets recycled irrigation water

Recycled water is now being used to irrigate the Australian Garden and plant nursery.

The $3.25 million project will deliver water from Melbourne’s Eastern Treatment Plant via a 1 km pipeline to a new water treatment plant at Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, which will further clean the water of salts and nutrients to make it suitable for long-term irrigation of Australian plants.

This pipeline is expected to save 35 megalitres, or the equivalent of 14 Olympic-sized swimming pools, of potable water a year.

The project began delivering recycled water to the Australian Garden earlier this month, helping to grow more than 100,000 plants representing 1900 different species, including 400 rare or threatened species and those from the Victorian bushfire recovery program.

Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne is an eco-tourism destination attracting interstate and overseas visitors, with more than 1.5 million people visiting the gardens last year.

Victoria’s Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, said, “This is a great example of the benefits of using recycled water — Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne benefit and the community will have the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful gardens for years to come.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/mars58