Rose Bay Promenade

State of the art water-saving technology recently installed at Rose Bay Promenade by Woollahra Council is proving to make a substantial contribution to reducing our community-wide ecological footprint and improving water quality.

Incorporating ‘water sensitive urban design’, the technology features a porus paving infiltration system that treats polluted stormwater run-off collected from New South Head Road. The treated stormwater is then diverted to underground tanks capable of storing up to 200,000 litres.

The recycled water is used for irrigation and maintenance purposes, saving precious litres of potable and bore water, reducing our water footprint.

Investigations are currently underway at a number of other locations across Sydney’s East that would benefit from this water saving technology. This project is being assisted by the New South Wales Government through its Environmental Trust, under the 3-Council Ecological Footprint Program between Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick Councils.

Water Saving Technology

The Treatment Process: The stormwater is cleaned of oils, hydrocarbons, sediment and other typical road runoff pollutants by a double treatment system. Stormwater passes through pavers and then the underlying layers of sand and basalt, ensuring high quality water. Most of the pollutants are captured in the fine structure at the top of the paver, which can then be swept clean in-situ to ensure the paver remains porous and effective in transporting treated water to storage tanks below.

The Re-use Process: Treated stormwater is then collected in underground tanks below each of the 11 parking bays. The storage tanks have a total capacity of 200,000 litres. The water will then be re-used for localised irrigation and maintenance, including watering of the historic Hill’s fig trees which line the promenade.

For more reading on water efficiency read our 'Use Water Efficiently' action.