Sydney Park Water Re-Use Project

As the southern suburbs’ population and industry continue to expand, the City of Sydney was faced with an increasingly universal challenge: how to increase and improve green amenity and biodiversity in a densifying built environment. Comprising 44 hectares, Sydney Park covers more than 10 per cent of Alexandria. A former brickworks, then landfill site, the park acts as a partial buffer between industry and encroaching residential development. As a green wedge, the existing park’s wetlands held promise, but suffered from low rainfall and algae outbreaks. Recreational space was fragmented, and existing grassed areas relied heavily on precious drinkable water.

The City engaged a team of designers, engineers, water technologists, ecologists, and artists to deliver a complex vision in response to a dynamic problem. Improved biodiversity was dependent on a healthy ecology, with a steady water supply central to this success. Given the site’s magnitude, the team focused on water harvesting and re-use to ensure waterway health and to future-proof water supply for the site. The project has enhanced circulation of water through the ponds and wetlands, diverting 840 mega litres per annum of local stormwater for treatment and re-use, renewing ecosystems and creating greener and more functional public amenity.

As Sydney’s largest water harvesting project to date, Sydney Park is integral to Sustainable Sydney 2030; which aims to meet 10 per cent of the city’s water demand through local water capture and reuse. The project has successfully reduced drinkable water use, through the capacity to capture and clean the equivalent of 340 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water per year. The park’s flora and fauna are flourishing, with improved recreation options, visual appeal and enhanced biodiversity increasing the park’s value. A landmark test-case for the large-scale future-proofing of our urban landscapes, the project demonstrates the importance of sustainable water use.

A key feature of the park is Turpin + Crawford’s ‘Water Falls’ installation, which helps highlight the function and processes of water harvesting, creating immersive opportunities for interactive play and education. The water ‘exhaust fans’ celebrate the transfer of water from bio-remediation ‘paddies’ to the lagoons, playing on the spirit of water and its interactions with topography, form, surfaces and plant life. A new network of tracks and trails directs users to junctions and open spaces along with bio-retention zones, bringing people closer to nature and wildlife, while conveying the park’s water story. Thirty million litres a year of harvested water is now recycled for improved pond and wetlands circulation, irrigation of grassed areas and to supply the park’s nursery operations. Impact of water harvesting and re-use already extends beyond the limits of Sydney Park, with non-drinkable water supplied to truck washing at the neighbouring City of Sydney Depot. The project intends to expand this function further, with plans to supply recycled water to neighbouring industry and to large-scale, neighbouring, urban redevelopment projects now in planning.