NCIG has hit a major milestone in the operation of the recycled water infrastructure built in 2023, in partnership with CoNEXA Infrastructure Partners.
Since commissioning this infrastructure in February 2023, NCIG has used 252ML of recycled water onsite, mainly for dust suppression and plant cleaning. This is in addition to the 350ML of reticulated water captured from rainfall. Together, the recycled and captured water supplies have met 90% of NCIG’s onsite water requirements, with just 58ML of potable water drawn from the Hunter region’s water supply since February 2023.
NCIG Manager Sustainability, Nathan Juchau, said the significant investment in the recycled water infrastructure was an outcome of working with our community and Hunter Water to better understand the greater impacts of how we source and use our water.
“The introduction of recycled water infrastructure onsite has been a pivotal change for our business, reducing our annual reliance on potable water by 78%. This means that our operations remain uninterrupted during times of drought or water scarcity, and importantly our high-standard of dust-suppression and plant cleaning does not falter during these periods. This also means that the region’s potable water supply remains available for residential use,” said Mr Juchau.
Recycled water is provided to NCIG by CoNEXA’s Steel River production facility, with every liter of recycled water used representing an equivalent amount of potable water saved from the Hunter Water network. This delivers water security to the broader region and ensures NCIG can maintain our high standard of dust suppression, even during the most challenging of weather conditions.
“We continue to work closely with CoNEXA to optimise our supply and to review any opportunities for increasing our supply of recycled water into the future—further reducing our reliance on the community’s drinking water and solidifying our resilience during times of water scarcity,” Mr Juchau said.
Learn more about our Recycled Water Project by watching our project video or by reading our article ‘Recycled Water Project a boost for community resources‘.
