Global award for NSW water project

A smart upgrade at the Springvale Water Treatment Facility has won a global award for preserving Sydney’s drinking water supply and supporting the local economy.

A small but incredibly innovative team from the Springvale Water Treatment Facility in regional New South Wales has won a global award from Veolia Paris after it saved more than 2190ML of Sydney’s fresh drinking water ― the equivalent of 867 Olympic swimming pools. 

The team did this by treating contaminated water coming from a nearby coalmine and purifying it to a degree that it could be used in the water cooling towers of Mount Piper Power Station, which meant water to perform this role did not have to be extracted from the environment. Along the way the team also increased the capacity of water that could be treated by 16%. 

The secret to their success wasn’t a brand new facility but 7 clever technical upgrades that together delivered this remarkable improvement. That’s why in only 10 months they saw a full return on the $3 million investment that achieved these goals. 

“This is the latest example of the incredibly talented individuals in Veolia ANZ delivering practical, affordable and ingenious solutions to overcome some of Australia’s most challenging water problems in a country known for its extreme climate,” said Veolia ANZ Acting General Manager Water NSW Kate Simpson.

“At Veolia we don’t just talk about decarbonising, depolluting and regenerating the world, we walk the walk. It’s because of the work of teams like these that we are confident that we will  meet our ambitious GreenUp strategy goals that position us as the global leader in ecological transformation”.