Recycling filtration plant wins water-saving award

Worth Recycling's water filtration plant, built to serve Illawarra Coal's Appin Mine, has been named as Sydney's best water saver at Sydney Water's annual awards ceremony.

BHP Billiton Illawarra Coal claimed the Largest Volume Reduction award at Sydney Water's Every Drop Counts Business Programme Awards for saving an average of 660,000 L of water every day at its Appin Mine. Sydney Water covers a supply area of 1.7 million homes and businesses.

Colin Bloomfield, president of Illawarra Coal, said the award recognised the value of Worth Recycling's water filtration plant.

"While we have rolled out water-saving initiatives at all of our operations, it is our water filtration plant that has enabled us to significantly reduce our water usage," Bloomfield said.

"The water filtration plant at Appin Mine has been a key deliverable in meeting our freshwater usage targets. It has enabled us to reduce our demand on Sydney Water's supply, and reduce the salinity level and volume of discharges from the mine."

Opened in December 2006, the plant enables Appin Mine to treat and re-use more than two megalitres of mine water each day - equivalent to two Olympic-size swimming pools. It works by desalinating extracted underground low-level saline water, which can then be used on site, as well as at other nearby mines.

For more information, visit www.worthrecycling.com.au.