This national collaborative research sought to shape the knowledge base and future actions of key investors and decision-makers in recycled water.
ISF researchers worked with 12 partner organisations representing key stakeholder groups – utilities, developers, local authorities, technology providers and regulators – to develop eight wide-ranging case studies. These documented stakeholders’ experiences of water recycling at different scales, for different end uses, under different public-private arrangements, and in different jurisdictions.
Both our case study approach and the resulting project outputs aimed to:
enable public and private proponents to build better business cases for recycling schemes, by doing a better job of accounting for risks, costs and benefits over the life of the scheme; and influence revisions of key policies and guidelines that allow or constrain equitable allocation of the risks, costs, and benefits that flow from recycling.
Figure 1. Illustrated link between case studies themes and resource papers
Case studies
Darling Quarter: Successful sewage recycling within a high-profile commercial building
Roseville: Stormwater recycling for urban golf course and oval irrigation
Wide Bay Water: Reusing sewage protects a World Heritage site and develops new revenue streams
Rosehill: Sewage recycling for large industrial customers
Aurora: Pioneering sewage recycling in a greenfield residential development provides many lessons
Wagga Wagga: Exploring sewage recycling in a regional inland city
Yatala: Onsite industrial recycling improves water efficiency in beverage manufacturing
Willunga Basin Water Company: Sewage recycling provides certainty for expanding wine region
Scope and approach
Eight diverse water recycling schemes from across Australia were selected for case studies, covering a broad spectrum of situations across:
- scale: from precinct/cluster up – 0.17 to 20 ML/d
- jurisdiction: Qld, regional and metro NSW, Vic, SA
- source: sewage, trade waste or stormwater
- end use: residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural
- delivery models: public, private, and partnerships
- location: urban, rural, regional
- operational duration: months to decades.
The depth of the case studies is expanded by six papers exploring cross-cutting themes that emerged from the detailed case studies, complemented by insights from outside the water sector.
Themes
Navigating the institutional maze
Saving water and spending energy?
Demand forecasting: a risky business
Public-private matters: how who is involved influences outcomes
For each study site and theme, inputs included semi-structured interviews with representatives of all key parties (regulators, owners/investors, operators, customers, etc) and a document review (of internal organisational documentation, policies and guidelines, conference and academic literature, for example).
The specific details of the case studies and themes were then integrated into two synthesis documents (the policy paper and investment guide) targeting two distinct groups: policy makers and investors/planners.
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Water recycling investment (Website)
Policy settings, regulatory frameworks and recycled water schemes (2013) (Policy paper)
Making better recycled water investment decisions: Shifts happen (2013) (Guide)
Years
- 2011-2016
Location
- Australia-wide
Client
- Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCoE)
Partners
- IPART, Sydney Water
- Lend Lease
- Queensland Government
- Ku-ring-gai Council
- Water Services Association of Australia
- Yarra Valley Water
- WJP
- Sydney Coastal Councils Group
- Siemens