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Government - Water Authorities

Acknowledges achievement and a strong ongoing commitment by a local council, water corporation, state or federal government agency / department to reduce own or community water use.

Congratulations to our winner, Wide Bay Water Corporation

Government-WaterAuthorities

WINNER


Wide Bay Water Corporation

Wide Bay Water Corporation provides quality drinking water and wastewater treatment for the 48,000 Fraser Coast residents in Hervey Bay, Queensland. In 2007, Wide Bay Water Corporation made a proactive step towards protecting Hervey Bay, which is an area of national significance, both on an environmental and tourism level.

The organisation, with the support of Queensland State Government Water and Sewerage Program (WASP), introduced a Drinking Water Substitution Program that aimed to save in excess of 315ML of potable drinking water per year which is equivalent to the water contained in 126 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The program involves a recycling system that treats wastewater and storm water, holding and disinfecting it in three storage dams (with capacities of 850ML, 650ML and 50ML) for a minimum of 30 days before piping it to areas where the water is required. The treated water is used in places where potable quality drinking water is not required. For example, Wide Bay Water Corporation is currently using the treated water for the irrigation of crops, sugar cane, pasture and tea tree plantations, as well as golf courses, sports fields and a turf farm.

To date, 300,000 hardwood trees have been planted and the Corporation has plans to plant one million trees by 2010. These plantations make Wide Bay Water Corporation a key leader in the new carbon economy.

Wide Bay Water Corporation encourages use of the recycled and treated water through pricing incentives, whereby the treated water is charged at a rate of no more than 50% of potable water costs. Furthermore, the corporation has offered free water-wise community education programs to promote the use of the treated water. As well as the environmental benefits gained through using the treated water, the community is essentially drought-proofing its farm regions.

Wide Bay Water is the first coastal community in Australia to develop a network that reuses 100% of its treated wastewater as well as reusing storm water. Since introducing the treated water system, Hervey Bay residents have been consistently rated amongst the lowest water users in Queensland.

Judges’ comments: Wide Bay Water Corporation presents a great example of how investment in technology for water recycling matched with a valuable community education program can lead to success in reducing damage to the environment.


FINALISTS


Sydney Water

The implementation of the Every Drop Counts Business Program by Sydney Water has seen 392 of its largest business customers improve the way they manage water. The program has been introduced to provide long-term water savings through a model of continuous improvement.

The process begins with a joint commitment to the program between Sydney Water and the executive managers of the business. Following this commitment, the company is guided through a water management diagnostic to identify areas in which the organisation can improve its water management. The outcome of the diagnostic is a One-2-Five Water rating and a prioritised list of critical actions to improve water management. These critical actions are used as the basis for a water management improvement plan.

Implementation of these plans is supported by the Program through technical, financial and operational tools.

The Every Drop Counts Business Program is continuously developing new tools to assist business customers to improve water management practices and achieve cost effective water savings. Companies involved receive one-on-one support from the Program.

Sydney Water also publishes a water conservation magazine, The Conserver, three times a year as part of the program. The publication highlights customers’ success in saving water along with new technologies to save water.

The program exceeded its water saving target of 1,659ML for 2006/2007, with the period seeing an actual saving of 3,475ML. This represents the same amount of water as 1,390 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Judges’ comments: Sydney Water has shown perseverance with a comprehensive program to support the achievement of water saving amongst Sydney’s ‘mega’ water users.

Queensland Water Commission

The Queensland Water Commission’s Target 140 behavioural change campaign successfully transformed South East Queensland residents into world-class water savers, who have saved more than 39 billion litres of water during the initial 12 months of the campaign.

In 2007 South East Queensland was in the grip of the worst drought on record and dam levels were declining rapidly despite water restrictions operating since 2005.

Facing severe water shortages and with residents using 70% of the region’s water, action was required to secure the water supply until new infrastructure came online in December 2008. With outdoor water restrictions already in place, residential indoor water use offered the most potential for additional voluntary savings.

The Queensland Water Commission developed and launched the Target 140 campaign which energised residents to voluntarily change their indoor water saving practices, behaviours and attitudes. The campaign asked South East Queensland residents to reduce average water consumption to 140 litres per person per day.

Creative executions successfully illustrated the severity of the situation and helped residents understand how they could play a part in maintaining water supplies.

The Commission recently celebrated a record 12 months under Target 140. Over the 12-month period residents averaged 128litres of water a day and saved a massive 39 billion litres.

“Target 140 was a unique campaign that for the first time asked a very large urban community of 2.8 million to voluntarily achieve a personal water use target. Its success was illustrated by the fact that residents exceeded the target by more than 10 litres for 52 weeks in a row”, said Gerald Tooth, Queensland Water Commission Director of Communications and External Relations.

Judges’ comment: During the worst drought in history, the Target 140 campaign demonstrated how a large urban community could be challenged to achieve massive voluntary savings.