Catchment protection

In Greater Sydney, WaterNSW is responsible for protecting the health of the Sydney catchment area to ensure reliable, quality drinking water is available for the 5 million people of Sydney and the Illawarra, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, Goulburn and Shoalhaven regions.

We are passionate about protecting our catchment areas, preserving our Special Areas and supplying the best quality raw water possible to our customers.

The Water NSW Act 2014 states that we are responsible for ensuring that declared catchment areas and water management works in such areas are managed and protected so as to promote water quality, the protection of public health and public safety, and the protection of the environment.

Functions of WaterNSW include:

• To manage and protect declared catchment areas and water management works vested in or under the control of WaterNSW that are used within or for the purposes of such areas
• To protect and enhance the quality and quantity of water in declared catchment areas
• To undertake research on catchments generally, and on the health of declared catchment areas