What are the possible solutions?

The remaining options were bundled together to form several solutions or scenarios. These were grouped into four sets – the base scenario, the water scenarios, the sewer scenarios and the small village scenarios.

The ‘base scenario’ involves all the things we plan to undertake over the next 30 years – like reducing water use, reducing stormwater infiltration, continuing to undertake catchment management projects, continuing our recycled water schemes, and constructing water storages at Bulahdelah, Stroud and Gloucester. The components of the base scenario are listed in more detail in Appendix 2.

A summary of the other scenarios, including a description, the Typical Residential Bill value and the Project Reference Group Workshop 1, environmental and social scores, is shown in Table 5.

Selecting one scenario from each of the water, sewer and small village scenarios will provide a total solution to ensure that all identified issues are addressed.

The ranking of the scenario combinations, based on Triple Bottom Line analysis, is shown in Table 4 The Typical Residential Bill is an indicator used to represent the average annual water and sewer cost for households.

TABLE 4 - COMBINED WATER AND SEWER SCENARIO SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE RANKING

Low reuse Mid-level reuse New storage 5 4

Desalination 7 6 High-level reuse IPR

2 -

3 -

IPR - - - 1

Triple Bottom Line is a method of analysis that looks at social, environmental and economic factors. It is sometimes referred to as the three Ps – people, planet and profit.

TABLE 5 - RAW SCENARIO TYPICAL RESIDENTIAL BILL COSTS AND EVALUATION SCORES

Label Scenario group Scenario Scenario Description TRB 2045$ PRG1 Key Issue Score Env Score Social Score Envl + Social Score

W1 Water More Storage A new dam at Peg Leg Creek 917 41.74 -4.174 16.69 13

W2 Water Desalination Brackish desalination at Bootawa 865 -8.35 -121 0 -121

S1 Sewer Low Reuse (25%)

S2 Sewer Medium Reuse (30%)

S3 Sewer High Reuse (45%)

W3 / S4

V1

V2

V3 Water & sewer Indirect Potable Reuse (65%) Injection of recycled water into the Nabiac aquifer 1803 281.7 125.45 167.1 293

Small villages Small villages remain unserviced Undertake planning only for the servicing of small villages

Small villages Provide Sewer to Small Villages Implement sewer systems only in small villages 35 3.011 1.3384 3.681 5

Small villages Provide Water and Sewer to Small Villages Implement sewer and water systems in small villages 70 4.53 -0.028 6.717 7

Business as usual –existing level of reuse Expansion of agricultural reuse in Taree area Expansion of agricultural reuse in Taree, Lansdowne, Old Bar and Bulahdelah. Additional public space irrigation at several locations.

(implementation outside the 30 year planning horizon) 865 4.561 2.8503 1.14 4

918 44.69 27.931 11.17 39

939 194.2 123.58 87.24 211

0 -1.76 -1.285 -2.09 -3

*This score comparison should be considered as combined water and sewer scenarios and small village scenarios. This comparison was presented in Table 4.