Hurstville City Council has completed the first phase of an innovative stormwater harvesting and reuse project.
The Peakhurst Light Industrial Stormwater Harvesting and Reuse Scheme will harvest stormwater from a 160 hectare catchment to irrigate tees, greens and fairways of the Hurstville Golf Club.
“The Australian Government is providing over $1 million in funding for the project through the Water for the Future initiative under the National Urban Water and Desalination Plan, and is proud to fund projects like this, that deliver adaptable infrastructure to communities to help them become more sustainable,” said parliamentary secretary for environment and urban water Amanda Rishworth.
“This first phase of development unveiled today involves harnessing biological systems in addition to UV treatment and disinfection to treat harvested stormwater.
“Bioretention systems use plants and sand filters to reduce nutrients and particulate matter and improve the quality of the harvested stormwater.
“The second phase of the project involves installing infrastructure to irrigate the golf course with treated stormwater, and developing education materials to promote water conservation and stormwater reuse to the broader community,” Ms Rishworth said.
Speaking at an event on Friday, local federal member for Banks Daryl Melham said the completion of the first phase of the stormwater harvesting project brings the community one step closer to securing the water supply for the Hurstville region, and once complete will provide great environmental benefits to the local area.
“After the stormwater is captured and treated it will be used to water a public golf course, significantly reducing the reliance on high-quality drinking water for irrigation,” Mr Melham said.
“Once completed, this project will conserve up to 50 million litres of high quality drinking water each year and reduce the impact of urban runoff on Lime Kiln Bay.”
The Hurstville region in the heart of southern Sydney is home to over 70,000 people. Hurstville Council will be using this project to promote water sensitive urban design to the community and to provide education opportunities for schools. Educational signage about the project will also inform the 50,000 public golf course patrons annually.
