ITOCHU Announces Acquisition of Recycled Wastewater Treatment Facility in Australia

December 21, 2015

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) has reached an agreement to acquire the Kooragang Industrial Water Scheme (“KIWS”), a recycled wastewater treatment facility owned by Hunter Water Corporation (headquartered in Newcastle, Australia; Jeremy Bath, CEO; hereinafter “HWC”), a public water supplier in New South Wales, Australia.

This represents ITOCHU’s first recycled wastewater treatment project in Australia.

KIWS is a facility that receives treated water from HWC wastewater treatment plants across a wide area and has the capacity to produce 3.3 billion liters of recycled water a year, which is then supplied to a neighboring industrial customer. Supplying recycled water to factories contributes to water conservation measures in the region.

In light of the demand for water and water shortages against the backdrop of rapid worldwide population growth, economic development and industrialization concentrated in developing countries, global warming and other developments, ITOCHU sees water and environment-related projects as promising business opportunities and is tackling markets in Australia as one of these promising market.

In addition to this project, ITOCHU is already participating in a seawater desalination plant in Victoria, Australia (see press release from August 2009[Open in a new window] ) and will continue to actively promote projects that contribute to drought management and water resource efficiency in Australia moving forward.

Outline of Hunter Water Corporation

Headquarters Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Representative Jeremy Bath
Business Category Water Supplier
Water Supply Area Lower Hunter Region, New South Wales
Established 1989
Shareholder New South Wales Government

Outline of the KIWS Recycled Wastewater Treatment Facility

Treatment Capacity 3.3 billion liters / year
Treatment Systems Microfiltration (MF) membrane and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane systems
Uses Industrial water
Commenced Operation November 2014