Sydney Water is a New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 government owned corporation that provides drinking water

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

, wastewater

Wastewater

Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations...

 and some stormwater

Stormwater

Stormwater is water that originates during precipitation events. It may also be used to apply to water that originates with snowmelt that enters the stormwater system...

 services to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Illawarra

Illawarra

Illawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven or South Coast region. It encompasses the cities of Wollongong, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and the town of Kiama. The central region contains Lake...

 and the Blue Mountains, in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Sydney Water has historically held a monopoly over the supply of water within the Sydney region, although legislation has recently been passed to open the market to competition.

Sydney Water has been known by a number names over the years including:

• Board of Water Supply and Sewerage (1888 1892)
• Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage (1892 1925)
• Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board (1925 1987)
• Water Board (1987 1994) which had also been the colloquial name for the organisation for much of its history in the 20th century, and persists among longer term employees and older members of the community to this day
• Sydney Water Corporation Limited (1995 1999)
• Sydney Water Corporation (1999 present) - with "Limited" being dropped when the corporation changed from a state owned limited company to a statutory state-owned corporation.

Sydney Water's management suffered an enormous amount of criticism following the 1998 Sydney water crisis

1998 Sydney water crisis

The 1998 Sydney water crisis involved the supposed contamination of Sydney's main water supply, the Warragamba Dam, by the microscopic pathogens cryptosporidium and giardia between July and September 1998....

 that was believed to be the large scale contamination of Sydney's raw water

Raw water

Raw water is water taken from the environment, and is subsequently treated or purified to produce potable water in a water purification works. Raw water should not be considered safe for drinking or washing without further treatment....

 supply. The supposed contamination was heightened levels of cryptosporidium

Cryptosporidium

Cryptosporidium is a protozoan that can cause gastro-intestinal illness with diarrhea in humans.Cryptosporidium is the organism most commonly isolated in HIV positive patients presenting with diarrhea...

 and giardia

Giardia

Giardia is a genus of anaerobic flagellated protozoan parasites of the phylum Metamonada in the supergroup "Excavata" that colonise and reproduce in the small intestines of several vertebrates, causing giardiasis, commonly known as Beaver fever...

 in Sydney's Warragamba Dam

Warragamba Dam

Warragamba Dam is the primary water source for the Australian city of Sydney. It is approximately to the west of Sydney on the Warragamba River, a tributary of the Hawkesbury River, and impounds Lake Burragorang.- Overview :...

. This meant the public had to take extra steps in their own homes to ensure tap water was safe to drink. After this event, the Sydney Catchment Authority

Sydney Catchment Authority

The Sydney Catchment Authority is a New South Wales, Australia Government agency created in 1999. The SCA manages and protects Sydney's drinking water catchments and catchment infrastructure, and supplies bulk water to its customers, including Sydney Water and a number of local councils.The SCA's...

 was created to manage Sydney's dams, raw water and catchment areas.

Its headquarters relocated to Parramatta

Parramatta, New South Wales

Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...

 in May 2009. The developer, Brookfield Multiplex, valued the project at A$176 million.

In early 2010 Sydney Water began operations of the Sydney Desalination Plant.