WaterNSW collaborations to protect our precious water sources

The Sydney catchment area covers almost 16,000 square kilometres and provides drinking water to more than 5 million people in Sydney, the Illawarra, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, and the Shoalhaven – around 60% of the NSW population.

It encompasses the Warragamba, Shoalhaven, Upper Nepean, Woronora, and Blue Mountains catchments, which drain into 11 major dams that store raw water.

The catchment features a diverse mix of land uses including agriculture, mining, industry, native forests, and urban areas.

Water often has to journey through forests and farms, travelling via wetlands, creeks, and rivers flowing into our reservoirs, before reaching household taps.

Our role in protecting this vital resource includes source water protection, reservoir management and water selection. We are also very aware of the emerging risks to water quality in the catchment, particularly resulting from climate change, increased risk of bushfire, and population growth in urban centres.

There is a direct connection between the health of a catchment, the quality of water in rivers and reservoirs, the environment and ultimately the supply of drinking water.

Source water protection results in healthier communities, increased liveability, sustainable agriculture and greater confidence in the water we drink.

A multi-barrier approach recognises that while each individual barrier may not be able to completely remove or prevent pollutants, together the barriers work to provide greater assurance over the long term.

A perfect example of our collaborative approach to multi-barrier water quality management is through the valuable partnerships we have developed.