04 June, 2021

Thousands of litres of recycled water used in a festival first

An assessment of water use at this year’s Garden of Unearthly Delights has shown that an impressive 455 kilolitres of recycled water was used at the event – saving drinking water from being flushed down the drain.

With the support of Green Adelaide’s Water Sustainability Grants, recycled water infrastructure was used at a major public event for the very first time with Council installing ten new recycled water access points throughout Rundle Park / Kadlitpina (Park 13).

The new infrastructure enabled the connection of public amenities, irrigation systems and hoses to recycled water for activities such as flushing toilets, watering lawns and reducing dust across the site.

Completed ahead of this year’s Adelaide Fringe season, a $1 million infrastructure investment within Rundle Park included supplying the Garden of Unearthly Delights with recycled water, with more than 47 per cent of its water use now coming from a sustainable resource. In any other year, these 455,000 litres would have come from drinking water supplies.

Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said that the initiative is the latest of many examples of the
City of Adelaide showing strong environmental leadership.

“That new infrastructure allowed us to reduce both water costs and wastage and I thank Minister Speirs and Green Adelaide for getting behind this project,” said the Lord Mayor.

“As we mark World Environment Day on 5 June, I’m proud to say we were the first Council to offer recycled water for public events, which is part of our goal to be a climate ready organisation and community.”

“Green Adelaide’s Water Sustainability Grants are focused on helping councils increase and improve the city’s green spaces and the creation of a cooler, biodiverse urban environment that’s more resilient to climate change,” Minister Speirs said.

“Last December the Marshall Liberal Government released its Climate Change Action Plan which is the most powerful vision for climate action of any South Australian Government in history.

“South Australians can all play their part in tackling the changing climate, but it is up to governments to lead the way and it’s great to see the City of Adelaide delivering a project that will have long-term environmental benefits.”

The latest innovation follows the City of Adelaide working with SA Water to be the first Council to use recycled water to irrigate the Park Lands back in 2009. City of Adelaide is also the first Council to be approved by SA Health to allow access to recycled water for use in public spaces. Rundle Park is the first Park Lands “water smart” site with all water supply points being monitored in real-time. We are working in collaboration with SA Water to deploy technologies and share data. Rymill Park has also been successful in recently securing Planning & Development funding from the State Government, which will extend the recycled water for next events season.

Matthew Halliwell