Water Reduction at Northmead

Coca-Cola Amatil’s Northmead plant has undergone a radical culture shift in the way the company and employees view water usage.  Whilst saving 83, 950, 000kL a year, or as much water as it takes to fill 84 Olympic sized swimming pools is impressive.  The long-term attitude change of CCA and its employees is the real success story of Northmead’s water reduction audit.

In 2003, in partnership with Sydney Water, CCA’s Northmead operations undertook a water audit to understand where water was being used, where it was being wasted and to identify where improvements could be made.

Sydney Water recognised CCA’s execution of the ‘Every Drop Counts’ program as ‘best practice’.  Ordinarily an audit is performed and then objectives identified by companies.  CCA however embraced the audit to such a degree that in many instances solutions were found simultaneously to the completion of the audit.

Results

During and after the audit, numerous changes were made to the lines, all contributing to saving the 230kL of water a day, or about 2 Olympic sized swimming pools every week.

Many of the changes were relatively simple and low cost to make, however made huge impacts on Northmead’s water efficiency.  Areas for improvement were identified through the installation of 19 flow meters to measure where and how much water was being used.  The flow meters allowed CCA to detect areas for improvement that would have otherwise remained hidden to any visual audits.
 
Prior to the audit CCA only knew how much water was coming in through the meter and how much was leaving as wastewater.  In order for the audit to take place, CCA needed to see what sections of the plant were using water, when it was being used and how much water different parts of the plant and office were drawing. 

Initiatives as simple as smaller rinse nozzles being installed and the installation of automatic solenoid valves all contributed to the reduction of 230kL of water a day.  To learn about the specifics of the initiatives undertaken at Northmead, please click here.