Shoalhaven sports grounds and golf courses benefit from recycled water initiative

With this year’s National Water Week having the theme 'it’s time to change the world', Shoalhaven Water’s acting Director Robert Horner believes a series of sustainable projects, including the Reclaimed Water Management Scheme (REMS), marks its commitment to sustainable projects.

Horner advised “Shoalhaven’s REMS is one of the largest reclaimed water management schemes in Australia, having beneficially re-used approximately 25 billion litres of reclaimed water since its commencement in 2002.

Notihng that reclaimed water is used to keep local sporting fields and golf courses healthy, Horner explains "we are close to completing major upgrades to our Nowra and Bomaderry sewage treatments plants, which will increase the REMS capacity to 13 million litres per day, providing further irrigation opportunities to farms, sporting fields and golf courses. This reclaimed water would otherwise be discharged to our local rivers and to the ocean.

“The REMS has been operating successfully for 17 years now, with four sewage treatment plants, in St Georges Basin, Huskisson, Callala and Culburra, providing about 6 million litres of high quality reclaimed water every day to the scheme.”

While approximately 98% of NSW is currently in drought, Councils need to consider all opportunities to save this valuable resource.  Currently, in the Shoalhaven one million litres of potable water is conserved each day by replacing its use with reclaimed water. This equates to around 6 billion litres since the REMS was established.

Horner adds "we’re hoping National Water Week will encourage our community to reflect on the importance of water conservation and in turn consider what they can do to conserve water in their daily lives.” 

For more information on Shoalhaven Water’s sustainable water projects and water conservation go to www.shoalwater.nsw.gov.au

Image of Mollymook golf course courtesy of Shoalhaven tourism