Our vision
To support a thriving, sustainable and resilient Greater Sydney.
About this Implementation Plan
The Greater Sydney Water Strategy continues to provide the long-term vision for delivering sustainable and resilient water services to Greater Sydney, including the Illawarra, for the next 20 years. This new implementation plan marks the next stage in translating that water vision into action for the period 2026-2029.
This implementation plan covers the next 3 financial years from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2029 and outlines actions that will guide the implementing agencies and water utilities in addressing immediate challenges, responding to new opportunities, and progressing the long-term outcomes of the Greater Sydney Water Strategy. Importantly, this 3-year plan builds upon the work completed under the previous implementation cycle, incorporates new knowledge and reflects alignment with current NSW Government policies.
The implementation plan was developed by the Water Group within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (the department) in partnership with Sydney Water, WaterNSW and other NSW Government agencies.
The plan focuses on the following:
- New actions aligned to long-term outcomes: the Implementation Plan’s short-term actions align to the long-term outcomes of the Greater Sydney Water Strategy.
- Incorporate new knowledge: incorporate the learnings from previous implementation actions into the new plan.
- Recognition of emerging risks, challenges and opportunities: the plan recognises the need to address emerging issues such as additional water demands from growing industries and emerging contaminants of concern, as well as technological advancements and evolving community expectations.
- Efficient delivery: following the 2025 IPART Price Determinations, the Implementation Plan prioritises actions that can be efficiently delivered within pricing determinations, and that will benefit the Greater Sydney community over the next 3 years.
- Whole-of-Government collaboration: continued collaboration between Sydney Water, WaterNSW, and government agencies ensures actions are implemented cohesively and effectively and that we are working together to continually improve.
This plan is designed to deliver actions over the short term and to support long-term outcomes of resilience, innovation and sustainability in Greater Sydney’s water services, waterways and catchments. The new actions reflect the current operating context and the need for ongoing adaptive management, whilst retaining the core long-term outcomes and objectives of the Greater Sydney Water Strategy.
Delivering this Implementation Plan
The water sector continues to face additional challenges from climate change and variability, population growth, affordability challenges, energy availability constraints, growing needs of the environment, and supply chain uncertainty. These factors will undoubtably influence our delivery of the Greater Sydney Water Strategy and the investment decisions we make so that water services are provided that deliver the right volume, at the right time, and of the right quality to continue to support a growing economy, liveable communities, and healthy waterways in Greater Sydney.
It is recognised that as we continue implementation, we will need to collaborate across agencies to enable adaptive responses and to ensure that the work we do remains responsive to changing circumstances and conditions.
NSW government agencies, Sydney Water and WaterNSW will meet regularly via governance committees to deliver this Implementation Plan and provide advice to the NSW Government on the delivery of the Greater Sydney Water Strategy.
The Implementation Plan is supported by a monitoring and evaluation process, the progress against the actions will be reviewed regularly and reported on to provide transparency and accountability. This monitoring and reporting will support continuous improvement and adaptive management of the Greater Sydney Water Strategy.
Priority 1: We understand how much water we need and when
- Review, document and align (where appropriate) levels of service definitions, design criteria and assumptions for water security planning.
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and WaterNSW - Review future water demands including emerging industries, growth and development forecasts, and customer expectations in drought to help us plan for future water requirements.
Responsibility: Sydney Water and Water Group
- Develop guidance to improve the adoption of latest climate change impacts into planning and decision-making processes.
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and WaterNSW - Develop guidance on minimum climate adaptation expectations to guide water service planning and investment, in alignment with the NSW Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and other relevant policies.
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and WaterNSW - Contribute to future revisions of the State Disaster Mitigation Plan to support comprehensive management of risks to water services in Greater Sydney, including drought.
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and WaterNSW
Priority 2: Our water systems are sustainable for the long term and resilient to extreme events
- Annually review and update the established 5-year Water Conservation Plan for consistency with long-term water efficiency goals for Greater Sydney.
Responsibility: Water Group and Sydney Water
- Review existing operating frameworks to evaluate options to optimise the use of current assets and deliver improved levels of service
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and WaterNSW - Reevaluate new rainfall independent supply infrastructure delivery scenarios to understand trade-offs and to validate options for supply inside and outside of drought
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and WaterNSW - Progress work towards government and regulatory approvals and community support for the Quakers Hill to Prospect Purified Recycled Water project
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water, NSW Health and Environment Protection Authority
- Undertake a comprehensive review of the Greater Sydney Drought Response Plan to address emerging water security risks and alignment with Water Sharing Plans.
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and WaterNSW
- Review long term water servicing plans and implement priority projects to address and adapt to identified location and asset specific risks and to increase resilience
Responsibility: Sydney Water and WaterNSW - Collaborate with the NSW Reconstruction Authority on the development of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley Disaster Adaptation Plan to ensure effective flood mitigation, water security and water quality
Responsibility: NSW Reconstruction Authority, Water Group and WaterNSW
Priority 3: Our city is green and liveable
- Pursue changes to the Sustainable Buildings SEPP and enhancements to BASIX to deliver more sustainable water use via planning controls.
Responsibility: Water Group and Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure - Strengthen participation and collaboration in urban landuse planning processes to promote water efficiency, improved amenity, and resilience.
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure
- Implement Sydney Water’s net zero carbon plan aligned to customer expectations, that will contribute to NSW Government’s targets for 2030 and 2035 and for net zero emissions by 2050.
Responsibility: Sydney Water - Embed circular economy frameworks in Sydney Water’s operations to improve productivity, efficiency and restore the environment.
Responsibility: Sydney Water and Environment Protection Authority
- Promote integrated water cycle management (IWCM) approaches to enable alternative water sources to support place-based outcomes including amenity cooling and greening within 3 years.
Responsibility: Sydney Water, DPE—Water and Greater Cities Commission
- Develop a strategy and implementation plan to transition water services in Sydney towards a circular economy model to support delivery of the NSW Government’s targets of net zero emissions by 2050 and to reduce emissions by 50% below 2005 levels by 2030, by July 2023.
Responsibility: Sydney Water and DPE—Water - Explore opportunities to incorporate food, energy, water and waste processing in new or upgraded wastewater treatment facilities within 3 years.
Responsibility: Sydney Water
Priority 4: Our waterways and landscapes are healthy
- Assess opportunities to deliver integrated catchment management improvements within Greater Sydney informed by the NSW Integrated Catchment Management work program.
Responsibility: Water Group and the department’s Conservation, Programs Heritage and Regulation branch - Align waterway quality data management and monitoring in Greater Sydney with the state-wide water quality framework to improve standardisation, consolidation and transparency.
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and WaterNSW - Investigate solutions to deliver additional flows to waterways while continuing to promote the implementation of scaled environmental flows from Warragamba Dam.
Responsibility: Water Group, Sydney Water and WaterNSW
- Deliver priority overflow reductions and improvements for Greater Sydney wastewater systems in accordance with Environment Protection Licences.
Responsibility: Sydney Water and Environment Protection Authority - Update the Sydney Water Aquatic Monitoring (SWAM) program to include priority contaminants of emerging concern (e.g. PFAS), and the impact of overflows on receiving waterways.
Responsibility: Sydney Water and Environment Protection Authority - Undertake planning and deliver essential work to manage risks and improve future resilience of wastewater systems, including coastal outfalls.
Responsibility: Sydney Water and Environment Protection Authority - Implement new works and nutrient offset projects to reduce impacts of nutrient discharges to the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system.
Responsibility: Sydney Water
- Provide strategic planning and technical support to councils and catchment groups to improve how waterways are managed.
Responsibility: Sydney Water - Identify and implement opportunities to improve water quality, ecology and amenity outcomes within Sydney Water’s stormwater catchments.
Responsibility: Sydney Water - Progress and deliver integrated stormwater harvesting and recycled water schemes in the Aerotropolis precinct and potentially other precincts in the Western Sydney Release Areas.
Responsibility: Sydney Water and Water Group
- Work across the NSW Government to support the activation of new swim sites and increase the recreational use of waterways.
Responsibility: Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (Open Space), Sydney Water and the department’s Strategic Policy, Science and Engagement Group (Beachwatch)
Priority 5: Water management and services meet community needs
- Seek to apply principles and actions from the NSW Aboriginal Water Strategy in Greater Sydney where appropriate.
Responsibility: Water Group
- Deliver a program of community engagement to improve overall water literacy and to understand sentiment to support delivery of purified recycled water as a future drinking water supply option.
Responsibility: Water Group and Sydney Water
- Review the Water Customer Affordability Scheme.
Responsibility: Water Group and NSW Treasury - Consider pricing frameworks to service emerging demands.
Responsibility: Sydney Water, NSW Treasury and Water Group
- Conduct ongoing review of the Greater Sydney Water Strategy to inform adaptive management.
Responsibility: Water Group
Implementation Plan
The 2026-2029 Greater Sydney Water Strategy Implementation Plan outlines coordinated actions by NSW water agencies to address emerging challenges, apply new knowledge, and efficiently deliver long-term water resilience, sustainability and innovation outcomes for Greater Sydney and the Illawarra.