Metropolitan Water Plan
The NSW Government's Metropolitan Water Plan was developed to ensure there is enough water, in this current drought and into the future, for Sydney, Blue Mountains and the Illawarra. It is also concerned with restoring the health of the Hawkesbury Nepean River and other precious rivers surrounding our cities and towns.
The plan provides ways to better supply, save or recycle water and identifies initiatives that will help deliver cost-effective solutions for the regions' future water needs.
These include further water demand management and recycling initiatives, and capital works projects, such as modifying the dams and water supply systems so they can be used to their full capacity.
The Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) is responsible for some of these works including:
- Accessing deep water in the dams - The SCA installed pipes and pumps at Warragamba and Nepean dams so that deep water, which lies at the bottom of the dams, can be pumped should dam levels fall to around 19 percent. The deep water project adds around six months of water supply to the system for use in the present drought. It also increases the amount of water we can draw out of our dams each year by around 40 billion litres. Works at Nepean Dam also boosted the security of water supply to the Illawarra.
- Shoalhaven transfers - The Government has announced important improvements for the health of the Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands rivers. These announcements include new environmental flow operating rules from Tallowa Dam to the lower Shoalhaven River, changed operation of Tallowa Dam, new infrastructure to allow a fish passage and to improve the quality of water releases downstream for the environment, and further investigation of three options for possible future increased water supply transfers for Sydney and the Illawarra from Tallowa Dam. These decisions have been made after considering community feedback, scientific investigations and social, economic and cultural heritage assessments.
- Groundwater - Sydney’s water saving efforts and the easing of drought conditions have allowed the Government to halt construction of groundwater borefields at Kangaloon in the Southern Highlands and Leonay and Wallacia in Western Sydney. Development will be halted at the point where land acquisitions, planning approval and tender design are complete to enable reactivation of the project without delay in future drought emergencies.
- Environmental flows - Modifications are being made to dam outlets at the SCA's Upper Nepean dams (commencing at Avon Dam) to enable the release of flows in accordance with the new environmental flow regime. The improved environmental flows will come into operation on a Government approved timetable. New environmental flow rules for the lower Shoalhaven River will also be implemented when Sydney Water lifts water restrictions.
Frequently asked questions
The SCA has also provided answers to a range of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Metropolitan Water Plan. FAQs are available about:
