Seawater desalination is how we remove salt and impurities from seawater to produce drinking water. Our desalination plants use a reverse osmosis process. Seawater is pumped into the desalination plant from the Indian Ocean and passes through pre-treatment filtration to remove most particles.
We recycle wastewater from almost two million homes before returning it to rivers and the sea. Learn more about our wastewater treatment process.
An important part of our role is to make sure wastewater is safe enough to reuse or return to the environment.
Every day we supply over 2 million people with clean drinking water. We also remove around 450 million litres of wastewater per day from water used in showers, sinks, toilets, dishwashers and more. That’s the equivalent of 180 Olympic size swimming pools!
Although wastewater is 99.9% water, we still need to remove any dangerous pollutants before we can release it back into the environment.
If you've ever wondered what happens to the water you've used after it heads down the plughole, here's your answer!
Primary treatment removes material that will either float or readily settle out by gravity. It includes the physical processes of screening, comminution, grit removal, and sedimentation. Screens are made of long, closely spaced, narrow metal bars. They block floating debris such as wood, rags, and other bulky objects that could clog pipes or pumps.