Port Pirie Community Water Reuse Project
Port Pirie, SA
Total funding: Total project cost $5 million, with funding of $2.5 million from the Australian Government under the National Water Security Plan for Cities and Towns and the remaining funding provided by Port Pirie Regional Council and Nyrstar Port Pirie.
About the project
Port Pirie Regional Council and Nyrstar Port Pirie are undertaking a project to treat wastewater from the Nyrstar plant for reuse at the site and for community municipal greening. Previously Nyrstar's waste water was released into the ocean after treatment.
Nyrstar is constructing a Reverse Osmosis Treatment plant to treat up to 500 million litres of wastewater each year. The Nyrstar smelter will reuse 250 million litres of water and 100 million litres will replace the use of potable water on Council reserves. The works associated with this project include the installation of a water treatment plant, construction of a water storage facility and construction of the reticulation network.
Project benefits
This project will:
- recycle up to 350 million litres of water each year from Nyrstar Port Pirie, replacing potable water currently used by Nyrstar and Port Pirie Regional Council
- reduce Port Pirie's reliance on water sourced from the River Murray
- decrease lead dust levels in the environment, through dust suppression techniques and washing down of facilities, and
- improve the quality of Port Pirie's parks, gardens and sports fields for use by the local community.
Progress
The project commenced on 10 September 2010 and is scheduled for completion by 30 June 2012.
Links
- Delivering improved water security for South Australians – media release 10 June 2010
National Water Security Plan for Cities and Towns projects are funded by the Australian Government's Water for the Future initiative.