The Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue has welcomed the State Government’s announcement that it will fast-track the doubling of Sydney’s desalination capacity, while urging a significant increase in water recycling to further enhance metropolitan water resilience.
Responding to Water Minister Melinda Pavey’s announcement that she had directed Sydney Desalination Plant to start the expansion three years earlier than anticipated,
Dialogue Chairman Christopher Brown said Western Sydney must also address water efficiency.
“While acknowledging that boosting desalination capacity is a sensible step at a time when dam levels are dropping at unprecedented rates, it’s equally critical to address water efficiency,” he said,
“Sydney Water boasts the world’s best recycling experts. As a city, we can walk and chew gum at the same time and Western Sydney needs us to multi-task on water.”
Mr Brown said he was heartened by reports that Ms Pavey was now actively considering recycling options, such as recycling water from toilets for use in public spaces, parks and gardens.
“In the long run it will be no use improving our options for supplying ourselves with drinkable water if we simply go on wasting so much it, via the current network which uses a huge amount for non-drinking purposes and flushes most of it out to sea after a single use.”
