The Company is pleased to announce that construction and commissioning work on the St Marys Water Plant in New South Wales is now complete. The official opening of the plant was conducted by NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, Water Minister Phil Costa and Member for Londonderry Allan Shearan on Tuesday, 5 October.

McConnell Dowell, as part of the Deerubbin WaterFutures Consortium, was awarded the design, construct, operate and maintain (DBOM) project in August 2007 as part of the Western Sydney Recycled Water Initiative.

The project takes wastewater from three plants at Quakers Hill, St Marys and Penrith and treats it using reverse osmosis, which involves pushing already treated wastewater through extremely fine filters to trap nutrients, minerals and chemicals.

Following the plant’s successful commissioning period, it will now start providing up to 18 billion litres of recycled water a year - 3.6 per cent of the needs of Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains.

The St Marys Water Recycling Plant is a pioneer in its field "nowhere else in the world is such high quality recycled water being used for the environment," Premier Keneally said.

"Recycling is one of four ways the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Water Plan will secure water supply for Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountain’s until at least 2025 – that’s alongside dams, water efficiency and desalination. By 2015, we will recycle 70 billion litres a year, or about 12 per cent of greater Sydney’s water needs.”

Congratulations to the entire Consortium on producing such an integral piece of NSW infrastructure. The Consortium will now operate & maintain the facility for 10 years.