NEXT time you see City of Sydney street cleaners in action, you'll know the water being used has also helped to provide life-saving medical treatment.
In an Australian-first, Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital will provide clean and filtered water used in its kidney dialysis machines to the city council for use in keeping streets sparkling.
In doing so, the council is saving up to 1.5 million litres of water each year.
Dialysis machines are used for up to 14 hours per day and need up to 500 litres of ultra-pure water for their vital use cleaning out the kidneys of a patient with kidney disease or failure.
The process starts via a reverse osmosis unit at the hospital, which generated pure water, with extra run-off during purification stored in one of two tanks which were added during a redevelopment in 2020.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said finding better ways to manage water was a crucial part of the city's resilience.
"By collecting the water from Royal Prince Alfred, we are also reducing emissions and travel time for our trucks, which don't have to return to depots in Alexandria or Ultimo to refill after cleaning the streets," Moore said.
Sydney Local Health District Chief Executive Deb Willcox AM said the collaboration also helped the hospital meet its annual sustainability goals, saying she was happy the alternative water source could be put to good use.
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