Council Announced as a Finalist in NSW Water Awards
Published on 23 December 2020
Shoalhaven City Council has been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2021 Australian Water Association (AWA) NSW Water Awards for its Reclaimed Water Management Scheme (REMS) Stage 1B Works in the Infrastructure Project Innovation Award (Regional).
The NSW Water Awards recognise the contribution of the Association's members for their inspiring leadership and innovative research, programs and infrastructure projects.
Shoalhaven City Council’s Mayor Amanda Findley said she was delighted to hear the announcement.
“I’m thrilled Shoalhaven Water has been recognised for the Stage 1B works of the Reclaimed Water Management Scheme which is one of the largest reclaimed water management schemes in Australia”, Clr Findley said.
“Shoalhaven Water have recently completed major upgrades to our Nowra and Bomaderry sewage treatments plants, which has doubled the reclaimed water available to end users to approximately 12 million litres per day. This reclaimed water would otherwise be discharged to our local rivers and to the ocean.”
“Our local dairy farming industry has been the greatest beneficiary of the scheme with the majority of the reclaimed water from six of our sewage treatment plants being beneficially re-used to irrigate dairy pasture. The reclaimed water is also used to keep our local sporting fields and golf courses healthy.”
The 1B project included the construction of a network of reclaimed water transfer pipelines, including a transfer pipeline under the Shoalhaven River which allows high quality reclaimed water to be connected from Bomaderry and Nowra treatment plants to the existing REMS distribution network.
“The REMS has been operating successfully for 18 years, providing about 6 million litres of high quality reclaimed water every day to the reuse scheme, from sewage treatment plants in St Georges Basin, Huskisson, Callala and Culburra, prior to the completion of Nowra and Bomaderry treatment plants” Clr Findley said.
“The Water Awards are the final awards to be announced in 2020 and Shoalhaven City Council has had a strong year of recognition from peer and industry groups.
“I am immensely proud of the women and men of Shoalhaven City Council who in a year of drought, fire, flood and virus, have not only managed to do the day to day business of Council under challenging conditions, but have risen to the many challenges with such grace, dignity and good ideas. The accolades Council have received are well deserved acknowledgement of the tremendous work the organisation undertakes,” said Clr Findley.
Read more about REMS on Shoalhaven Water's website.
The NSW Water Awards will be presented at the end of February 2021.