Dual water homes expected to cut drinking water usage by 40%

The $3.2 million system delivers drinking water to all inside taps as normal, however a second supply will deliver non-potable water from the Ploughmans Valley stormwater harvesting scheme to toilets and outdoor taps. 

The water will be pumped to one of the settling ponds built for the Blackmans Swamp stormwater harvesting scheme where it will be treated to remove sediment.

Then, it will be pumped to one of the reservoir tanks for ultra-violet light treatment before it is pumped to houses.

Mayor Reg Kidd said it was an important part of recycling water.

“Mainly this water goes into settling ponds and into tanks and it’s treated to a certain degree, it’s just below drinking water quality, and it’s mainly for use in your yard, washing your car, through your toilet system and things like that,” he said.

“Certainly it will lower [the consumption of potable water] – it’s interesting just how much water gets flushed down the toilet when people go to the loo, and that’s just good, high quality water.”

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Cr Kidd said residents would not notice any difference in water from indoor taps. 

“Over the last couple of years, there’s been high-quality drinking water flowing through both sets of pipes,” he said.

“While the water that will flow from outdoor garden taps will still be high-quality water, it won’t be treated to the industry standard of drinking water.

“It’s very unlikely that a child could get sick if they accidentally drink water from an outdoor tap, but it’s something parents should be aware of.”

Outdoor taps have a purple-coloured attachment and a nearby ‘Recycled Water’ sign to make the difference clearer.

About 2200 properties will also be contacted directly to let them know the scheme is about to start, up from 1500 in earlier stages of planning, due to growth in the area.

The scheme has capacity for up to 4500 homes. 

Planning for the scheme started in 2007 and testing began in 2014.

But it faced a number of hurdles, including delays in accessing 20 houses to ensure there were no cross-connections and a further 50 to check corrective work had been done.

At one point, the council threatened to switch the scheme on regardless unless homeowners organised an inspection.

“The other thing was making sure our licences were in place for the use of the stormwater harvesting, that’s been quite a convoluted process,” Cr Kidd said. 

For more information about the dual water scheme, click here.