The Virginia scheme was established in 1999 and distributes about 15 GL per year of highly treated reclaimed water to irrigators in the Virginia area north of Adelaide. This water is produced by a dissolved air flotation / filtration (DAFF) plant fed by treated effluent from the Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant.

An extension of this scheme  has been constructed including a small booster pumping station and more than 20 kilometres of pipelines of various sizes. The project has increased the reuse from Bolivar wastewater treatment plant from about 29% to 35%.

Construction started in July 2008 and was completed in May 2009.

The Virginia Angle Vale Reuse Extension has:

• Contributed to increasing Adelaide’s use of recycled water
• Reduced discharge of harmful nutrients into the Gulf St Vincent
• Reduced demand pressure on the region’s groundwater resources and
• Contributed to reducing River Murray extractions

Virginia was the first and largest recycled water scheme of its type in Australia and remains one of the largest in the Southern hemisphere.

For more information on the project refer to the fact sheet.

The project forms part of the Government’s Water for Good plan - aiming to secure future water supplies through a mixture of the following mechanisms:

• Managing water use
• Desalination
• Recycling
• Catchments.

View more information on Water for Good.