Extra water taken from kidney dialysis machines is now being used to clean dirty Sydney streets.
The City of Sydney is using surplus filtered water taken from the life-saving machines at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital instead of letting it circle the drain.
The council has developed a plan to use the runoff tanks rather than Sydney drinking water and in turn will save a whopping 1.5 million litres every year.
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Excess ultrapure water from the dialysis units are usually stored in 10,000-litre tanks on-site.
Global annual water usage for hemodialysis, also simply known as dialysis, is in the billions, according to the National Library of Medicine in the US.
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Two-thirds of this water is the reverse osmosis reject water emptied into the drain.
The “reject” water from Royal Prince Alfred will now be used in Sydney for council cleaning tasks such as hosing off footpaths and washing away graffiti.
Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney, praised the Australian-first scheme for its impact on the environment.
“Water is our most precious resource and finding ways to better manage it is crucial to Sydney’s resilience. This is increasingly important as the climate crisis lengthens periods of drought,” she said.
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“Not only does this collaboration mean there is more drinking water available, the filtered supply is great for street cleaning because it has low levels of particles, calcium and magnesium.
“That means it’s less likely to leave residue and streaking, is less abrasive on road and footpath surfaces, and reduces equipment scaling.”
The collaboration between the Sydney Local Health District and City of Sydney is set to improve water sustainability for both organisations.
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