Excursion requests

Come behind the scenes

Our qualified teachers and industry professionals will help school, university and TAFE students discover their role in sustainable water management and learn how to improve our city’s liveability. All our programs are free of charge and most are syllabus-linked. We also welcome community groups to come on technical tours.

Tours limited until further notice
Due to restrictions on our sites, we're unable to book tours in 2022. Please visit this page for further updates. 

Syllabus-linked school excursions

General site tours

Syllabus-linked school excursions

Our high school excursions include a walking tour of an industrial site and hands-on activities. We provide printed syllabus-linked worksheets for students and a teacher answer sheet with notes on further study ideas.

  • Stage 6 programs run for 4 hours.
  • Stage 4 programs run for 2 hours.
  • Dual-site programs visit two sites. They run for 5 hours, including travel between the two sites (half an hour) and time for your own off-site meal break (half an hour).

Stage 6 Chemistry Depth Study

We offer 3 excursions that focus on the different types of water in our managed water cycle: drinking water, wastewater and water recycling. Students will explore the chemistry specific to that site and see how we've applied it in an industrial setting.

The site tour and supporting activities are designed to inspire further Depth Study investigations.

Learn more in our Stage 6 Chemistry Depth Study Program Outline (242KB). Find supporting resources at HSC Chemistry and Water chemistry online.

Drinking water

Students will learn about drinking water quality and filtration.

Students will explore pH, buffers, flocculation and basic indicators of water quality. They'll see how we monitor, manage and process water to supply clean drinking water and protect public health.

Water recycling

Students will discuss polymers used in membrane technology, water recycling and protecting the environment.

Students will explore different types of polymers and how we use them in flocculation, dewatering and membranes. They'll learn about basic water quality indicators and how we're contributing to sustainable environments and liveable cities.

Wastewater

Students will investigate tertiary wastewater treatment, water recycling and protecting the environment.

Students will explore chemicals and separation techniques used in treating wastewater, as well as basic water quality indicators. They'll learn about protecting the environment and resource recovery.

Students will learn about drinking water filtration at Orchard Hills.

Students will discuss membranes at St Marys.

Students will investigate wastewater treatment processes at Penrith.

Stage 6 Earth and Environmental Science Depth Study

Students will explore the impact of human behaviour on water use and the importance of protecting the environment. They'll also learn about how recycled water helps us maintain river environmental flows (e-flows).

Wastewater and water recycling

See how we use separation techniques on an industrial scale for wastewater treatment and water recycling at Penrith Water Resource Recovery Facility.

Stormwater 

Investigate stormwater run-off in our waterways at Johnstons Creek in Jubilee Park at Glebe or Boundary Creek in Weir Reserve at Penrith. Note – this program is new, so please email us at education@sydneywater.com.au to request this excursion.

Students will learn about environmental flows.

Learn more in our Stage 6 Earth and Environmental Science Depth Study Program Outline (182KB). Find supporting resources for HSC Earth and Environmental Science.

Stage 6 Investigating Science Depth Study

We offer 3 excursions that focus on the different types of water in our managed water cycle: drinking water, wastewater and recycled water. Students will explore applications and influence of scientific research in water management, specific to each site.

The site tour and supporting activities are designed to inspire further Depth Study investigations.

Learn more in our Stage 6 Investigating Science Depth Study Program Outline (216KB).

Drinking water

Students will learn about drinking water quality and filtration.

Students will explore the impacts of scientific research on public health through water filtration. Students will investigate pH, buffers, flocculation and basic indicators of water quality. They'll see how we monitor, manage and process water to supply clean drinking water.

Water recycling

Students will learn about water quality indicators, membrane technology, water recycling and protecting the environment.

Students will explore the impacts of scientific research and the application of technology in advanced water recycling. Students will investigate how various polymers assist with water and solids recycling through flocculation, dewatering and membranes. They'll learn about basic water quality indicators in alternative sources of water and how we're contributing to sustainable environments and liveable cities.

Wastewater

Students will investigate separation techniques used in tertiary wastewater treatment, water recycling and protecting the environment.

Students will explore chemicals how scientific research applied to industrial processes protects the environment and promotes resource recovery. Students will investigate the separation techniques used in treating wastewater to contribute to a sustainable environment and liveable cities.

Students will learn about drinking water filtration at Orchard Hills.

Students will learn about water quality indicators.

Students will investigate separation techniques for wastewater.

Stage 4 Science and Geography

Our Science and Geography programs focus on the different types of water in the urban water cycle. Students will learn about:

  • the water cycle, water as a resource and factors influencing water availability in Sydney
  • access to water and sustainable water management
  • variations in people's perceptions about the value of water
  • monitoring water quality to protect the environment and public health for liveable cities.

We run these programs at the following sites:

Learn more in our Stage 4 Science Program Outline (240KB), Stage 4 Geography Program Outline (218KB) and our Geography Waterways Excursions Outline (120KB).

We also have resources to help you do your own self-guide excursion at a local waterway.

Students will investigate water quality.

General site tours

We offer free site tours for school, university, TAFE and community groups. These programs run for 1.5 hours. They include a walking tour of an industrial site and time to ask questions.

On all our sites, participants must be:

  • in year 7 or above
  • able to climb several large sets of grid-style stairs (see-through) 
  • able to walk at heights. 

Availability depends on site conditions and may change from time to time. We have minimum group sizes.

For more information, email us at education@sydneywater.com.au.

Community groups can visit local sites to learn more about how we manage Sydney's water.

General school excursions

Our general high school excursions are a great opportunity to see behind the scenes of an industrial site and ask lots of questions. We'll use language from the relevant subjects and encourage students to think about their role in sustainable water management.

The excursion is not syllabus linked, and no worksheets will be provided.

Visit one of these sites:

Technical tours

Depending on the students' interest and background, we'll discuss topics like:

  • safety and environmental risk management
  • day-to-day operations of industrial sites
  • how water is used, moved and treated in the urban water system
  • water management, including the roles of individuals, government, non-government organisations and regulators
  • technology and planning for the future.

Drinking water sites

Visit Orchard Hills Water Filtration Plant to learn about drinking water quality and filtration.

Wastewater treatment and water recycling sites

Visit one of these sites to learn about tertiary wastewater treatment, water recycling and protecting the environment.

Advanced water recycling

Visit one of these sites to learn about membrane technology (microfiltration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis).

Find more tertiary resources.

Technical tours

We'll take you on an informative behind the scenes walking tour around a drinking water or water recycling plant.

You can visit one of these plants:

Tank Stream and Boiler House

We offer public Tank Stream and West Ryde Boiler House tours twice a year in cooperation with Sydney Living Museums (SLM). 

Tickets are only available by visiting the SLM website. They're usually held around April and November. Follow us on Facebook for tour date alerts.

Tank Stream

We take visitors under the city along a 60-metre length of the stream and tunnel dating between 1789 and 1965. Learn more about Tank Stream heritage (348KB).

West Ryde Boiler House

We take visitors through the boiler house building, along the viaduct and into the coal bunkers to explore how coal-powered steam engines pumped water to Sydney's Northern Suburbs.

The Tank Stream.

The viaduct at the West Ryde Boiler House.