SEQ’s first Class A+ recycled water residential development on track

The launch of Class A+ recycled water in Pimpama and Coomera in late 2009 will bring to fruition Gold Coast City Council’s Pimpama Coomera Waterfuture (PCWF) Master Plan.

It is the first initiative of its kind in South East Queensland and part of the council’s Gold Coast Waterfuture Strategy to sustainably manage and conserve water.

Class A+ recycled water will be pumped to dual-reticulated homes, businesses and schools in the Pimpama and Coomera region on the northern Gold Coast – one of Australia’s fastest growing areas.

Initially, the project will connect more than 4000 homes to the Class A+ recycled water network, with separate purple pipes, taps and hoses.

Class A+ recycled water is not for drinking, but will be used to flush toilets, water gardens, wash cars, fight fires and for construction and irrigation purposes. Similar systems have been designed at Rouse Hill in Sydney and Mawson Lakes in Adelaide.

The master plan was developed in 2004 with the aim of creating a fully integrated urban water cycle management plan for the 7000 hectare Pimpama Coomera region.

The area is still largely undeveloped, making it the ideal location to establish a community with positive attitudes and behaviours towards water and water-conservation initiatives.

Director of Gold Coast Water, Richard Went, says the PCWF master plan has already won numerous international awards and has set a benchmark for water, wastewater and stormwater management in Queensland.

“The plan has been so successful it has received global recognition, winning the International Water Association’s Water Congress ‘Global Grand Prize’ for water planning in 2006 and runner-up in 2008 in the ‘Practical Realisation of Sustainable Urban Water Management’ category,” said Went.

“Gold Coast Water has ensured that the Class A+ recycled water product is backed by state-of-the-art infrastructure," he said. "An $80 million recycled water treatment plant has been built at Pimpama to ensure the Class A+ recycled water is treated to quality standards.

“In addition, a recycled water reservoir has been built at Upper Coomera, alongside a potable reservoir to store water for the area’s ever-growing population,” he added.

The PCWF master plan includes many supportive water management systems:

• Rainwater tanks are plumbed into the cold water washing machine tap and an outdoor tap, to further reduce demand on drinking water;
• Reduced Infiltration Gravity Sewers (RIGS) have been built to reduce the volume and velocity of stormwater entering the wastewater network;
• Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) has been implemented, replacing traditional kerbs and channelling with visually attractive swales and retention ponds. These landscaping features allow stormwater runoff to be slowed, reduced and filtered, before it can enter local creeks and rivers.