Sydney Water targets first IS Rating for Lower South Creek Treatment Program

Sydney Water targets first IS Rating for Lower South Creek Treatment Program

The Lower South Creek Treatment Program (LSCT Program) has been registered as Sydney Water’s first project to undertake an Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) Rating. The primary objective of the IS Rating is to trial the tool’s sustainability assessment framework as a benchmark for project sustainability performance. The process will also evaluate alignment with Sydney Water’s corporate values, policies and procedures, and vision ‘to be the lifestream of Sydney for generations to come’.

The LSCT Program includes upgrades to two Water Recycling Plants (WRP) at Quakers Hill and St Marys in the South Creek catchment area. These works are required for upgrade and renewal for critical components and to cater for significant growth in the region, while complying with fixed discharge requirements of the Environmental Protection License (EPL). The project is being delivered by the Lower South Creek Delivery Partner (WSP and UGL), acting as Project Manager on behalf of Sydney Water, and collaborating on design with Stantec and AA JV (AECOM and Aurecon JV). The project is adopting several innovative process technologies which will be a first for Australia, deliver significant sustainability outcomes, and hopefully help pave the way to a more sustainable water services industry. One of these innovations, and a key part of the Lower South Creek Strategy, is the transfer of biosolids from Quakers Hill WRP to a regional biosolids hub at St Marys WRP. This creates the scalability and feasibility for a new anaerobic digestion plant with Thermal Hydrolysis Pre-treatment (THP) at St Marys. This will deliver both processing efficiencies, and in turn allow for a co-generation plant with energy recovery from biogas.