Effluent management and recycling Water is extracted from the environment, treated at water treatment plants and supplied to customers as drinking water. Once water has been used by customers, it is referred to as wastewater. This is treated at sewage treatment plants and treated effluent is returned to the environment or recycled for beneficial reuse. Council aims to return treated effluent with no harm to the water cycle by the most appropriate, sustainable and community-acceptable method. Each town and village has different opportunities and constraints for effluent management and recycling. Generally, the range of effluent management alternatives available depends on the proximity to adjoining activities and geographical features. Current effluent management options in our area consist of: • • •
beneficial reuse or recycling (eg irrigation on agricultural land or recreational areas, roadworks or stock watering) direct release into the environment (eg river or ocean) groundwater recharge (eg effluent released to coastal sand dunes).
Other opportunities for recycling are being investigated for long term options as part of our Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy, including aquifer recharge and purified recycled water for drinking. Volumes of water returned to the environment are presented in the figure below. The volume of wastewater treated at sewage treatment plants and reused fluctuates depending on weather patterns, especially rainfall. During periods of low rainfall, there is less wastewater to treat and more opportunities for reuse. Wet years present challenges for reuse including less opportunities to provide water for irrigation.
Water returned to the environment
ML/yr
10000 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 River
2018-19 Ocean
2019-20 Groundwater
2020-21 Recycled Water (including onsite reuse)
Figure 11: Volumes of water returned to the environment
State of the Environrment Report 2021
Page 45
