Securing Water
We deliver services that are essential to people's wellbeing and health, and more broadly to economic and social development of communities. Yet we operate in the context of depleting resources and raw materials, at a rate beyond nature's ability to replace them. In all of our activities, service provision is inseparable from higher objectives in saving scarce resources, such as water and energy, and in improving the management of our activities' impacts on the environment and public health.
As a manager of scarce resources, we deploy solutions that combine economic efficiency with environmental efficiency.
Establishing long-term water supplies
With the impact of climate change, drought-reducing rainfall and a growing population in Australia, non-rainfall dependent water sources for drinking water, such as desalination or recycled water, are being considered by both public authorities and industry.
In 2009 Veolia Water simultaneously established operations for three of Australia's largest water infrastructure projects providing alternative water sources to Australians. These included the South East Queensland Desalination Plant on the Gold Coast, Sydney's Desalination Plant in New South Wales and the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project, also in south-east Queensland.
Case Study
South East Queensland Desalination Plant
As part of an alliance, Veolia Water commenced operations of the South East Queensland Desalination Plant in early 2009. This plant has capacity to supply up to 125 megalitres per day of drinking water to more than 650,000 people.
Desalination is the process of separating salt from seawater to produce fresh drinking water. The plant is designed to operate on an ‘on-demand’ basis, which means the amount of water produced varies, depending on how much water is needed in the South East Queensland Water Grid. It can operate at 100 per cent, 66 per cent or 33 per cent of capacity depending on supply requirements set by the Water Grid Manager.
This plant uses reverse osmosis technology. This process consumes less energy, produces the freshwater more cost-effectively and creates a better final product than other desalination technologies. The South East Queensland Desalination Plant is one of the world’s most energy efficient plants with an average generation efficiency of 3.58 kWh/m3.
In 2009 the South East Queensland Desalination Plant won the Global Water Award for Membrane Desalination Plant of the Year.
Case Study
Sydney’s Desalination Plant
On behalf of the Sydney Water Corporation, Veolia Water, as part of the Blue Water joint venture with John Holland, established operations of Sydney’s desalination plant. Prior to the completion of this project the city of Sydney was solely reliant on surrounding dams and rain for its drinking water. This project involved the design, build, operation and maintenance of the plant.
This reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant has the capacity to provide 250 megalitres per day of water to 1.5 million Sydney residents. The project helps ensure Sydney has a sustainable and secure water supply that is not dependent on rainfall.
For more information about desalination please read the Q&A from the Veolia Environnement Sustainable Development Report 2008 Australia and New Zealand.
Case Study
Western Corridor Recycled Water Project
In 2009 Veolia Water commenced operations as the Scheme Operator of Queensland’s Western Corridor Recycled Water Project. Initially, this involved assisting the Queensland Government to develop the infrastructure for what is the largest advanced recycled water scheme in the southern hemisphere. Veolia Water is now operating the scheme under a long-term contract.
The project involves three new advanced water treatment plants taking treated waste water from six existing wastewater treatment plants and 200 kilometres of pipeline. These advanced water treatment plants use reverse osmosis membranes to treat wastewater to a quality suitable for indirect potable reuse.
The plant has the capacity to provide over 230 megalitres of water per day to industrial customers and for return to the region’s drinking water supplies, if required in the future.
The project won the Global Water Award for Water Reuse Project of the Year in 2009.
Today's waste, tomorrow's resource
Through the services we provide we can solve common waste disposal problems – generating green energy, turning a contaminated landsite into a useful community resource and finding uses for toxic materials at the end of their life.