Victorian Minister for Planning, Sonya Kilkenny, has unveiled the major delivery partner for the new Aquarevo Water Recycling Plant in Lyndhurst.
Developed on a former wastewater treatment plant, Aquarevo is a collaboration between government-owned South East Water and Villawood Properties to create Australia’s most water efficient urban housing development.
Hydroflux has been awarded the contract to design, build and operate the development’s new water recycling plant, which will reduce the community’s reliance on drinking water.
Using Australian-first technology, the water recycling plant will treat about 52 million litres of water per year to Class A standard for each dwelling within the Aquarevo housing estate, which can be used for non-drinking purposes such as toilet flushing, garden irrigation and washing machines.
The plant design will incorporate an organica food chain reactor made to look like a natural garden to seamlessly allow the plant to blend into the residential development.
The energy efficient treatment facility will also include a greenhouse and provide all the aesthetic and odour benefits of the organica process with capacity to treat 207kL of wastewater daily, the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool in 12 days.
Aquarevo residents benefit from having three types of water plumbed straight to their homes (drinking water, rainwater and Class A recycled water) to reduce their reliance on drinking water by up to 70 per cent.
Homes within the Aquarevo estate on average use 40 per cent less drinking water than typical homes in the South East Water network, with some achieving a reduction of about 60 per cent.
South East Water Managing Director, Lara Olsen, said that Aquarevo is a working example of using an integrated water management approach to deliver water services and to reduce the impact of urbanisation on water supplies and local environments.
“We’re excited to work with Hydroflux to deliver Australian-first water treatment services to our customers that will reduce reliance on previous drinking water across our network in Melbourne’s South East.”
Construction is planned to start in early 2025, with the plant to be operational by late 2026.
Featured image: Hydroflux CEO, John Koumoukelis; South East Water General Manager, Charlie Littlefair; Victorian Planning Minister, Sonya Kilkenny; South East Water General Manager, Karen Lau; and Hydroflux EPCO CEO, Luis Bastos. Image: South East Water
