What is Recycled Water
What is recycled water?
Recycled water is water taken from any waste stream and treated to a high standard so it can be used for a new activity. On this website, ‘recycled water’ generally refers to fully treated effluent from sewage treatment plants.
Recycled water is a secure alternative water source that, when treated as required, is fit for a range of purposes, such as:
- agricultural irrigation
- industrial processing such as for cooling
- municipal uses such as watering parks and gardens
- domestic uses such as toilet flushing, car washing, and garden watering.
Melbourne Water's role
We produce recycled water from our two sewage treatment plants, the Western Treatment Plant at Werribee and the Eastern Treatment Plant at Bangholme.
Recycled water from the two plants is either used onsite or sold to recycled water retailers. These companies then distribute and supply recycled water directly to individual users.
For information on other water supplies such as stormwater, greywater and industrial water recycling and reuse see:
For information on how to access recycled water see:
How much water is recycled?
In 2009/10 Melbourne Water and the retail water businesses supplied about 63,330 million litres of recycled water for a range of activities such as the irrigation of agriculture, vineyards, market gardens, conservation areas, dual pipe (or third pipe) schemes and golf courses.
This represents 21.4% of the total amount of sewage treated in metropolitan Melbourne, exceeding the Victorian Government’s recycling target of 20% by 2010.
As the largest producer of recycled water, Melbourne Water contributed about 57,618 million litres of recycled water, which equates to 19.5% of sewage treated in Melbourne.
We are also working with the metropolitan water retailers to develop additional recycling projects for activities that do not require drinking quality water. For example, in Melbourne’s east there are several schemes that have approval (or approval in principle) to deliver an expected 9 billion litres of additional recycled water per year. A range of other projects are being investigated that could increase offsite recycling by a further 20 billion litres annually.
Why recycled water?
Water recycling is supported by the Victorian Government to provide long-term solutions to secure our water supplies.
Melburnians use around 400 billion litres of drinking water a year for a range of purposes. Many of these uses, such as toilet flushing and irrigation, do not require drinking quality water. These activities can potentially use alternative water sources, if available.
Recycled water has been used in Australia and other parts of the world for many years. Places such as Singapore, California, Florida, United Arab Emirates and Israel use recycled water as a key part of improving the security of future water supplies.
More information: