Western Sydney's new $1.2 billion recycled-water facility has been pitched to data centre operators within weeks of opening, prompting warnings that drought-resilience supply built for homes and businesses is being redirected to a customer class not counted in the city's 2022 water plan. Sydney Water confirmed the dual-use direction in a report published 4 October, ahead of a major pipeline decision required within a decade ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Key takeaways
- The Badu Yarragul Water Resource Recovery Facility at Kemps Creek cost $1.2 billion and opened last month ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- It treats 35 million litres of wastewater a day, with plans to double to 70 million litres ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Sydney Water confirmed a second recycled-water plant at Camellia-Rosehill, due by 2032, would also supply data centres ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Eighteen data centre projects valued at $61.22 billion are in the NSW state-significant development pipeline ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Sydney Water says it is investing $14 billion in capital over five years to meet demand ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
What happened
The Badu Yarragul Water Resource Recovery Facility at Kemps Creek opened last month, treating 35 million litres of wastewater a day with capacity to connect 140,000 new homes and businesses across Western Sydney, including the new airport ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Sydney Water managing director Darren Cleary said the utility was already positioning the plant to feed the artificial-intelligence build-out. "There's a real opportunity for this to be used for data centres," Mr Cleary told ABC News, while stressing that data centre customers "fundamentally … pay their way" and would not affect broader services ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Water-quality researcher Stuart Khan, who has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles on water quality and treatment, said data centre demand was not accounted for in the 2022 Greater Sydney Water Strategy, which had identified up to 140 gigalitres per year of recycled water available to customers over the next couple of decades ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "If we take that away from customers, we give it to a new industry that wasn't accounted for in the strategy, then we need to think about where we are going to replace that future water supply from," Professor Khan said ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He added that purified recycled water for drinking remained technically feasible, with Perth cited as an established example, but that doing so was "simply not the intention" of the Kemps Creek plant and would require fresh regulatory approval ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Mr Cleary said a community-and-government decision on drinking-water reuse would need to be made within 10 years ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Sweltering Cities senior campaigner Sanaa Shah said Western Sydney residents remembered the drought period and water restrictions and were uncertain whether equivalent rules would apply to data centres, calling the current pipeline "a frantic, reckless data centre boom" ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. According to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, there are more than 60 operational data centres across the state and 18 projects worth $61.22 billion in capital investment in the state-significant development pipeline ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Sydney Water has confirmed a second wastewater treatment plant at Camellia-Rosehill, due to open by 2032, would also supply recycled water to data centres ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Reported project figures
| Item | Reported value |
|---|---|
| Badu Yarragul facility, Kemps Creek | $1.2 billion |
| Opening treatment capacity | 35 ML/day (35,000 m³/day) |
| Planned doubling | 70 ML/day (70,000 m³/day) |
| Sydney Water five-year capital plan | $14 billion |
| NSW SSD data centre pipeline | 18 projects, $61.22 billion |
| Camellia-Rosehill plant target opening | 2032 |
Specification read
The reported opening throughput of 35 megalitres per day is 35,000 m³/day, doubling to 70,000 m³/day as Western Sydney grows; the facility's connection envelope is 140,000 new homes and businesses ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A recycled-water scheme at this scale typically runs screening, grit removal and primary clarification, followed by a biological stage — commonly A2O, MBBR or MBR — then tertiary filtration and disinfection (UV or chlorination) to deliver the non-drinking, industrial-grade product Sydney Water describes as suitable for cooling, toilet flushing, agriculture and greening ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This event bears most directly on the tertiary-and-disinfection envelope, because the same polishing train that supplies toilet flush and irrigation can in principle feed hyperscale cooling loops, and the open question is whether an additional membrane stage would be needed to lift the product to data-centre cooling-tower make-up specification. If your plant sits in the 20,000–70,000 m³/day band, receives mixed municipal sewage with BOD typically in the 200–400 mg/L range, and is being asked to commit part of its reuse output to an industrial off-taker with zero-liquid-discharge or heat-rejection constraints, the Kemps Creek model is the local benchmark for how the utility is contracting new recycled-water demand. The configuration is consistent with closed-loop cooling make-up for hyperscale data halls, and the same biological–membrane package is the one operators should be evaluating when sizing reuse lines for industrial customers. See our Mbr Membrane Systems reference for the membrane stage that typically follows the bioreactor, and our Municipal sector hub for the broader reuse configuration. The reverse-osmosis step that would be required to push this water to potable grade is reviewed in our RO System Advantages and Disadvantages: 2026 Engineering Buyer's Guide, and a comparable Middle East reuse scheme is benchmarked in our Effluent Treatment Plant in Yanbu: 2026 Engineering & Buyer's Guide.
FAQ
What capacity does the Kemps Creek facility actually run at today?
The source reports an opening throughput of 35 megalitres per day, or 35,000 m³/day, with a planned doubling to 70 megalitres per day ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Influent BOD, COD and TN figures are not reported, so the design organic load cannot be confirmed from the supplied sources.
How much will the five-year capex programme cost the utility?
Sydney Water managing director Darren Cleary said the utility is investing $14 billion in capital over the next five years to meet demand ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The share allocated specifically to data-centre reuse lines is not broken out in the supplied sources.
Will the recycled water be used for drinking?
Sydney Water confirmed purified recycled water for drinking is a long-term possibility under the Greater Sydney Water Strategy, but Mr Cleary said a decision would need to be made within 10 years ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Professor Khan noted the facility would need fresh regulatory approval to supply drinking water ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
How big is the data centre pipeline that could draw on this water?
The NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure said the state-significant development pipeline contains 18 data centre projects valued at $61.22 billion in capital investment, alongside more than 60 operational data centres across the state ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Individual site water-demand figures are not given in the supplied sources.
