An Interesting Approach to Saving Water

Sydney harnesses CBD's underground 'lake' - Yahoo!7 News

Tuesday January 15, 01:15 PM

Sydney harnesses CBD's underground 'lake'

Recycled water will be stored under one of Sydney's main streets in a scheme aimed at saving New South Wales Parliament almost 18 million litres a year, or about half its water consumption.
The water recycling project, which begins today, will use large rainwater tanks built on top of Parliament House, the State Library and Sydney Hospital that can each hold 60,000 litres.
Water Utilities Minister Nathan Rees says the water collected will flow into an "artificial lake" being created under Macquarie Street.
"What we're calling the St James Lake is an old disused railway tunnel that we will now be filling with water from the roofs of these buildings, keeping it in storage and then using it for gardens and toilets and so on," he said.
The tunnel, just north of the State Library, already holds 5 million litres of stormwater after collecting run-off for decades.
The Government wants to pump a lot more stormwater into it. The reservoir would then be used as the main supply of recycled water for all of the public buildings along Macquarie Street.
Mr Rees says the water in the disused tunnels is surprisingly clean.
"Despite the debris, the water is crystal clear after it's come through the sandstone," he said. "You just don't expect to find this under the centre of Sydney."
He says all the Government buildings along Macquarie Street will eventually funnel rooftop stormwater into St James Lake.
Other unused train tunnels will also be checked to see if they can be used as reservoirs.

I came across this rather interesting news piece today. Due to the drought that is affecting the majority of Australia at present, everyone is trying to work out new ways to save water (or revamp the old ways). This one struck me as a really good way of recycling existing resources to meet the current needs of the population.