Each community will be different, however Altogether can provide drinking water, recycled water and waste water solutions. You can check which services are available in your area via the postcode look-up above.

Think about the future for you, your family and your community.

Using recycled water reduces drinking water use by up to 70% in your home, saving precious drinking water supplies. In the 2019 drought, recycled water was not subject to water restrictions, so households had access to a secure water supply all year round. Without having to install a bulky rain-dependent rainwater tank in your yard, you can still help to ensure Australia’s sustainable future — simply by choosing to use the purple tap.

Learn more about the benefits of recycled water and how to use it safely.

Most Australians use drinking water for everything!

We flush and wash away up to 70% of the drinking water we use daily. Only 10% goes in our mouths, with the remaining 20–40% used in our bath or our cooking. 

We can dramatically reduce the amount of drinking water we use, simply by harnessing millions of litres of disused wastewater that's currently pumped out to sea or into our waterways. Water is not just important for drinking and washing — insufficient water means we cannot grow adequate food supplies or maintain industry.

Laying recycled water mains in conjunction with drinking water mains in new developments is a relatively simple and cost-effective method of introducing recycled water. To retrofit recycled water into existing areas, serious excavation under roads, nature strips and private property would be required. Home owners would also bear the cost of installing recycled water plumbing and fixtures within their properties. This means retrofitting communities with recycled water can be prohibitively costly and time-consuming.

BUT at Altogether, we never say never!

Recycling and re-using water is a great way to save drinking water and help care for the environment. Saving drinking water by recycling means we have extra water available in case of drought — and for a growing population.

We don't need to use drinking water to wash our clothes, flush toilets or water sports fields. Recycled water can do the job safely, and just as well.

Absolutely! In fact we encourage all residents to ensure their washing machine is connected to the recycled water system as it not only helps to preserve valuable drinking water, but also ensures water balances across the community. 

Altogether mandates a recycled water washing machine tap on all new works. This means there will be two taps to supply the washing machine — hot drinking water and cold recycled water.

All of our licences include clothes washing as an authorised purpose. The recycled water we produce is clean, clear and odourless. It leaves no residue in clothes or washing machines. Washing machines are typically the third highest user of water in the home. Using recycled water in washing machines can save about 20,000 litres of drinking water a year.

You shouldn’t notice any difference washing clothes with recycled water compared to drinking water.
However, just like with drinking water different detergents and washing additives can vary washing
quality and this is the choice of the resident as to which detergents works best for them.

Washing machine maintenance is another area that can have a significant impact on washing performance and supplier manuals are a good source of information in achieving the best washing results.

No matter where you live, wastewater charges include taking away all your used water from your home through your water utility’s network of sewer pipes, cleaning it and returning it to rivers and the sea. In simple terms, the cost to provide these services is more than delivering water to you and is why charges for wastewater are higher on your bill than for water.

In an Altogether community we also collect and manage the wastewater that your property produces but instead of discharging into local waterways we repurpose it. In an Altogether community you have access to both potable drinking water as well as high quality recycled water.

NOTE: In an Altogether community you should not be paying any fees to Sydney Water or Hunter Water (except at the Gables and Pitt Town where Sydney Water will charge you for the drinking water service).

When our water cycle is in balance, we all win.

An unbalanced water system is the result of poor stormwater management, too much waste water and low recycled water use.

Stormwater can really upset the balance and have significant environmental and cost implications. It’s not part of our water supply and doesn’t belong in our treatment loop. So, when stormwater leaks into our network, we need more resources to discharge it or to treat it. 

Treated water is the other half of the equation: how we use recycled water in our community also impacts on the balance. If we’re not actively using recycled water in our communities, all excess water has to be discharged onto undeveloped land and is wasted.

And by not putting the treated water to good use, this inevitably means we’re using our drinking water at a much higher rate. 

So how do we achieve a balanced water system? Firstly, we need recycled water resources to be used for more where drinking water isn’t required – for tasks like watering the garden, washing the car and doing laundry.

On the wastewater end of the cycle, we can minimise the water going into the system by simply using the drinking water in a conscious way – for example taking shorter showers, turning off taps when not needed, and using the dishwasher at its full capacity.

Additionally, if we can avoid stormwater leaking into the system – often caused by faulty or illegal pipework – we can reduce the strain on water processing resources and minimise wastage to achieve a good equilibrium.

A balanced water cycle means a brighter tomorrow for everyone.