Eastern Region
Melbourne Water's Eastern Treatment Plant at Bangholme treats about 40% of Melbourne's sewage, or about 370 million litres a day to Class C quality. Recycled water from the plant is used in operations onsite and by customers offsite.
In 2004/05, 15,034 million litres of water was recycled.
The Eastern Treatment Plant began selling recycled water in the 1970s to customers along the plant's 56-kilometre outfall pipeline for use in agriculture, horticulture and vineyards, or to irrigate golf courses and sporting fields. These customers are now supplied through South East Water.
Eastern Irrigation Scheme
The Eastern Irrigation Scheme involves Melbourne Water delivering Class C recycled water from its Eastern Treatment Plant to a private sector operator, TopAq, which carries out further treatment using ultrafiltration membranes to produce Class A quality recycled water.
TopAq delivers the Class A recycled water to a range of customers via 50 kilometres of transfer and distribution pipelines. For more information, visit www.topaq.com.au.
The Sandhurst Club golf course in Carrum Downs was the first recycled water customer to be connected under this scheme. The 1850 homes in the Sandhurst residential development will also be connected to the scheme, with South East Water providing recycled water retail services to residential customers within the project area.
Recycled water to Gippsland
In June 2004, the Victorian Government announced an investigation into the Eastern Water Recycling Proposal as part of its action plan, Our Water Our Future. This investigation is aimed at determining the feasibility of transferring recycled water from the Eastern Treatment Plant to the Latrobe Valley.
The feasibility study could lead to a massive infrastructure project that has the potential to use up to 80% of the plant's recycled water for use in power stations, other industry and agriculture. The study will take about 18 months to complete.
South East Community region and Mornington Peninsula
The proliferation of golf courses, council reserves and agricultural areas south east of Melbourne presents a significant opportunity for recycled water to replace other water sources for irrigation, residential developments and industrial areas. Melbourne Water and South East Water are investigating the potential for major water recycling schemes to the region.