About recycled water in the city
The City is the sole owner and operator of recycled water services to Kalgoorlie-Boulder and is the largest operator in Western Australia of its kind, outside of the Water Corporation.
Current wastewater services involves the collection of sewage through an underground pipe network across the City. The network connects to the City’s Waste Water Treatment Plant where the waste is processed.
Utilising primary and secondary treatments, the City is able to beneficially re-use treated water by irrigating parks and gardens and supplying water to industry for processing activity.
Recycled Water Restrictions – February 2023
The City proactively reviews water usage. In January 2023, a thorough review was conducted in response to a particularly dry summer, the low levels of available rainwater at the Piccadilly Street dam, and a lack of rain forecast for the upcoming months.
At a Special Council Meeting on Monday 6 February, Councillors were briefed last night on the current recycled water reserve levels and provided with recommendations on possible solutions including recycled water restrictions.
They considered short, medium, and long-term strategies to to address recycled water reuse and endorsed the implementation of temporary recycled water restrictions across the City.
The plan includes:
- Using new Recycled Water Volumetric allocations and Rate Restrictions Methodologies
- Level 5 recycled water restriction to all current recycled water users - this includes all City-owned parks and reserves and private users who purchase recycled water from the City
- Installation of water metres
- Ongoing monitoring and reporting of levels to Council on a monthly basis and available to the community
The City is communicating with all private recycled water users to discuss their supply agreements and will continue to communicate as water levels are monitored.
All recycled water users will need to meet the Department of Health’s water re-use requirements prior to June 2023 in order to continue to receive their supply.
Recycled Water Volumetric Allocations and Restriction Methodologies
These are ways of measuring and assessing water levels in order to determine if the restriction level is adequate.
The Recycled Water Volumetric Allocation will see reserve levels assessed on the first day of every month, with affected users to be given notice if any changes to restrictions are required.
If the stored volumes are less than 310ML, a 12-month Moving Average Rainfall assessment will be conducted, and the relevant level of restriction applied from the seventh day of the month.
How will a Level 5 restriction work?
All irrigation recycled water users, and those with an annual Recycled Water Supply Agreement with the City, will have a level 5 water restriction applied immediately, with the remaining unconsumed balance of their 2022/23 annual allocation (as at 1 February 2023) or the pro-rata allocation for February-June 2023, whichever is lesser, to be distributed over the balance of the financial year (February-June 2023).
Recycled water restrictions will take effect immediately and be monitored on an ongoing month-to-month basis. Restrictions may change pending the recycled water levels, with all affected recycled water users to be given seven days’ notice should a change be required.
Future updates
A breakdown of monthly usage and associated costs will be included in a report at Council's monthly meeting. The agenda and minutes from Council meetings is available here.
Monthly usage and future updates regarding recycled water in the city will also be available on this page.
For more information
For more information on the City’s water recycling processes and water restrictions, please contact the City's Engineering Department on 9021 9600 or email mailbag@ckb.wa.gov.au
