McLaren Vale Recycled Water
McLaren Vale, SA
Total funding: Total project cost of $3.5 million fully funded by the Australian Government under the National Water Security Plan for Cities and Towns.
About the project
The McLaren Vale Recycled Water project will assist local wine growers to connect to recycled water from the Christies Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant. The project will provide for one-off payments to eligible irrigators to connect to the Willunga Basin Water Company (WBWC) pipeline, as well as half of the license fee that is charged by WBWC. The level of grant funding has been set to provide an incentive for small irrigators of less than 15ML/yr of demand.
This project will build on work already being undertaken as part of the Water Smart Australia project Water Proofing the South, which is helping to increase storage capacity at the Willunga and Aldinga Dams to enable increased recycled water use for irrigation in McLaren Vale.
Project benefits
This project will:
- improve water security for small to medium growers by substituting mains water with recycled water
- reduce the volume of effluent discharged into the Gulf of St Vincent
- provide economic benefits to the region as a whole by reducing supply uncertainties for the grape growing industry, and
- encourage demand for recycled water to offset potable water use.
Progress
The project commenced on 13 November 2008 and is scheduled for completion by 30 June 2012.
Links
- Rudd Government delivers millions for water recycling in Adelaide's south – media release 17 April 2008
National Water Security Plan for Cities and Towns projects are funded by the Australian Government's Water for the Future initiative.