Bore Water Treatment Systems
Plant-scale bore water treatment that takes raw groundwater to the quality your operation or irrigation actually needs, across the Sydney Basin.
Raw bore water is rarely fit for purpose straight out of the ground
Groundwater in the Sydney Basin is abundant, but it is not uniform. Bores in the Hawkesbury sandstone and the Cumberland Plain alluvium commonly carry dissolved iron and manganese, elevated salinity and sodium, hardness, sediment and turbidity, and in places a low pH. None of it makes the water unusable. All of it decides what the water can be used for, and what it will do to pumps, pipework, emitters, cooling towers and turf if it is put to work untreated.
Sydney Basin Water designs and builds bore water treatment as part of a commercial groundwater supply or an irrigation supply, and as stand-alone treatment where a site already has a licensed bore and wants the water brought to a specification. The specification comes first. We test the source, agree the quality each process or crop genuinely needs, and build the treatment train that closes the gap, rather than fitting a standard package and hoping.
The result is water delivered to an agreed quality and monitored against it, so what reaches your plant, your reticulation or your greens is the water the design assumed.
For household, stock and farm bores, see bore water filtration from our sister company BG Water Solutions.
How a bore water treatment system comes together
TEST
Raw water sampled and analysed for iron, manganese, salinity, hardness, pH, turbidity and whatever else matters for your use. No design starts without the numbers.
DESIGN
The target quality is set by the end use, cooling make-up, wash-down, process water, turf or crops, and a treatment train is sized to your flow and the gap between raw and target water.
BUILD
Plant, storage, dosing and controls installed at the bore headworks and connected into your existing mains or reticulation, with the bore itself built by licensed drillers.
COMMISSION
Treated water tested against the specification, flows verified at design pressure, and the operating settings recorded before the supply goes into service.
OPERATE
Ongoing monitoring against the specification, media and consumables managed, and the water quality record kept for your compliance and ours.
What untreated bore water costs you
Iron and manganese stain everything the water touches and progressively block emitters, sprinkler nozzles and heat exchange surfaces. Hardness scales pipework, valves and cooling tower fill. Elevated salinity and sodium damage turf root zones and soil structure season after season, and corrode fittings that were never designed for it. Sediment and turbidity wear pumps and foul filters. None of it shows up in the first month. It shows up in year three, as declining performance and infrastructure that needs replacing years early.
Treatment built to the actual water analysis removes that risk at the source. We design, build and commission the plant, record its operating settings, and test the treated water against a written specification.
Treatment for every use of groundwater in the Sydney Basin
Iron and Manganese Removal
Oxidation and media filtration for the staining, blocking and discolouration the Sydney Basin's ironstone and sandstone aquifers are known for.
Salinity and Sodium
Blending, and where the analysis calls for it further treatment, to bring dissolved solids and sodium within the tolerance of your turf, crop or process.
Hardness and Scale
Scale control so cooling towers, valves and reticulation are not scaled up by calcium and magnesium over successive seasons.
Sediment and Turbidity
Multi-stage filtration that protects pumps, emitters and heat exchangers from fines and keeps the delivered water clear.
pH and Corrosion Control
Correction where the source water is aggressive to fittings or prone to precipitating minerals through the system.
How to choose a bore water treatment system
There is no standard bore water treatment system, because no two bores in the Sydney Basin produce the same water. We choose the treatment in three steps.
1. Test the source
A sample is analysed for iron, manganese, salinity, hardness, pH and turbidity, so the design starts from real numbers rather than a guess.
2. Set the target by end use
Cooling make-up, wash-down, process water, turf and crops each tolerate different water, so the specification follows the use, not a single standard.
3. Size it to your flow
The treatment train is sized to your peak flow and to the gap between raw and target water, so it keeps up with the bore pump.
The result is written down as a specification. The treated water is tested against it at commissioning and monitored against it from then on.
Treatment, licensing and the water sharing plan
Treatment does not change the licensing position. Commercial extraction in New South Wales still needs a Water Access Licence with share components in the relevant groundwater source, a water supply works approval for the bore, and compliant metering under the non-urban water metering rules. Where treatment produces a waste stream, its disposal is part of the design, not an afterthought.
We handle the whole pathway alongside the treatment design, and where a site already holds its licence we work to it. Read how a commercial supply is licensed, or see BG Water Solutions' guide to bore water licences in NSW.
Common questions about bore water treatment
What does bore water treatment remove?
It depends on the water analysis. Most Sydney Basin bores need some combination of iron and manganese removal, filtration for sediment and turbidity, treatment for hardness, and blending to bring salinity and sodium within tolerance for the end use.
Do you test the water before designing a system?
Yes. No design starts without a water analysis. The raw water is sampled and tested for iron, manganese, salinity, hardness, pH, turbidity and anything else that matters for your use, and the treatment is designed to close the gap to your target quality.
Can you add treatment to a bore we already have?
Yes. As well as treatment built into a new commercial or irrigation supply, we design and build stand-alone treatment for sites that already have a licensed bore and want the water brought to a specification.
How is the treated water checked once the system is running?
The treated water is tested against the agreed specification at commissioning, then monitored against it during operation, with filter media and consumables managed and a water quality record kept for your compliance.