Testing at Sydney’s 250,000 m³/d desalination plant is reaching its final stages, Sydney Water announced on 24 January 2010, as the network was being prepared to take desalinated drinking water.
New South Wales (NSW) water minister Phil Costa said the seawater reverse-osmosis plant would provide up to 15% of Sydney’s water supply as part of the NSW government’s Sydney Metropolitan Water Plan.
Minister Costa said, “By 2015, 12% of Sydney’s drinking water needs will be met through recycled water projects. We have some of the largest recycled water projects in Australia under construction or online across greater Sydney and we are on track toward meeting the Metropolitan Water Plan target of 70 billion litres a year by 2015.”
The desalination plant has been built by the Blue Water Joint Venture, comprising John Holland and Veolia Water Australia.