Environmental performance

Veolia Water is an environmentally responsible company committed to reducing its environmental impact through efficiency, research and innovation.

In all its business activities, it works to avoid, reduce or control environmental impacts, and review environmental objectives and targets with the aim of continually improving environmental performance.

Working towards continual improvement - ISO 14001 compliance

Veolia Water uses the international standard for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) ISO 14001, to guide its approach to managing environmental aspects and impacts. Currently, all Veolia Water's sites and offices comply with the EMS system which supports our employees' initiatives to identify and manage environmental risks and opportunities. The system is an integral part of the company's business management system.

Through continual improvement, Veolia Water strives to operate in an environmentally responsible way Veolia Water conducts rigorous internal and external auditing to ensure conformance and continual improvement against ISO 14001.

Fostering sustainable environmental outcomes with clients

Through the services it provides, Veolia Water also helps clients and the wider community to foster and support sustainable environmental outcomes. It also liaises with suppliers, subcontractors and clients to achieve a high level of environmental performance.

In one of its major infrstructure projects, Veolia Water has adopted an energy recovery approach to minimise impact on climate change. The Sydney Desalination Plant, currently under construction, will be 100 per cent offset by renewable energy.

Our progress so far

Some of the ways in which Veolia Water is working to minimise its environmental impact and operate its business more efficiently in terms of the environment include:

• The Illawarra Water Treatment Plant in New South Wales, designed, built and operated by Veolia Water, generates its own power through the use of hydro turbines. Excess renewable energy is then sold back into the grid. Energy optimisation occurs on a site-by-site basis across all Veolia Water contracts.
  
• Developing systems for treating and recovering sludge produced by treatment plants, the most important being agronomic recovery through spreading and compost. Use of organic material derived from waste helps protect water resources by retention of nitrates and pesticides, and reduced erosion and depletion of soils.
  
• Protecting the environment and combating climate change by developing energy and carbon management action plans for key facilities across Australia and New Zealand, to monitor and mitigate the company's greenhouse gas footprint.
  
• Contributing to conserving natural resources through involvement in such schemes as the Western Corridor Recycled Water project, which can provide 232 million litres a day of purified recycled water in south east Queensland, and the Rosehill Recycled Water Scheme which will provide 4.3 billion litres of safe, recycled water a year to high-volume industrial water users in Sydney's western suburbs. In its current operations, Veolia Water works at conserving natural resources through such initiatives as the leak detection program, conducted at United Water in Adelaide, which aims to minimise water loss in the network.
  
• Contributing to conserving biodiversity by implementing biodiversity management plans at key facilities in Australia and New Zealand. This contribution to regional biodiversity is a priority for Veolia Water as the effects of climate change will impact on local biodiversity. At the Illawarra Water Filtration Plant in New South Wales, Veolia Water is working with a biodiversity expert to promote local biodiversity and regenerate native flora. The site includes a variety of micro-ecosystems such as native bush, a stream, a pond and grassland. Recently, activities at the site have included controlling noxious weeds and the revegetation of native seedlings to establish a wildlife corridor along the stream and reduce erosion on site.
  
• Promoting innovative solutions to meet the needs of future generations by using the group's local and worldwide research and development experts to build capacity in sustainability tools. These include Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), which is currently assessing alternative water management systems at a residential development site in Adelaide and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis.