At the same time, the City of Stonnington is encouraging residents to their reduce water consumption by 15 per cent.

“Council has implemented numerous initiatives over the past 18 months to save water. This includes upgrading the irrigation system at Malvern Valley Golf Course, installing drought tolerant grasses into 6 sports grounds with the view to completing all grounds in 5 years, the completion of water audits on 28 major facilities along with implementation of the recommendations, installation of rain water tanks at community centres and the adoption of internal Environmental Purchasing Guidelines which encourage the purchase of water efficient appliances and products,” says Stonnington Mayor, Cr Sarah Davies. “To assist and encourage residents to save water, Council has hosted Green Gardeners and Green Plumbers workshops in addition to a major community water saving competition.”

Since January 2004, City of Stonnington has conserved almost 50ML of water, which is equivalent to almost 50 Olympic sized swimming pools.

The City of Stonnington’s 50 per cent reduction target forms the centre of its Sustainable Water Management Strategy. Under the Strategy, targets must be met by 2010/2011 by implementing a variety of quantifiable water saving actions. The City of Stonnington is the only local government in Australia to have set a 50 per cent target.