24 July 2009
Households across Melbourne’s west are being urged to continue with Target155 and their water saving efforts as the dry weather persists into winter and water storages hover at 26.9%.
City West Water Managing Director Anne Barker said Target 155 had given householders a simple water-saving benchmark to achieve, and had helped Melburnians reduce their water use on average by 12 litres per person per day compared to last year.
“Residents have achieved remarkable water savings since Target 155 began in December, and just last week Melbourne achieved an average Target 155 usage for the period since the campaign began,” Ms Barker said.
“Around 11 billion litres of water has been saved since the Target 155 program began – equivalent to the annual usage of more than 70,000 homes – but as the dry weather lingers on, we need everyone to do more.”
Ms Barker said that City West Water had erected a sign at its Sunshine Head Office Complex to demonstrate the level of water saving achieved by households and businesses, and serves as a reminder that households use the majority of Melbourne’s water.
“The myth that businesses use the majority of Melbourne’s water supply and they have done little to reduce their usage continues, when in fact, households use twice the water that non-residential users do, and everyone has done a great job in saving water.
“We wanted to acknowledge the initiatives that our industrial and commercial customers have undertaken to save water – initiatives that have helped save 17 billion litres of water in our service area, and 41 billion across Melbourne.”
Ms Barker said that while water savings achieved by industrial and commercial users will continue to reduce overall water consumption, everyone needs to continue their water saving efforts.
“With storages at 26.9% of capacity after record low rainfall in the first half of this year, it’s imperative that we ‘bank’ our water savings during the cooler weather to prepare us for spring and summer.”
“Winter presents a great opportunity to save even more water at home – there’s little need for garden watering, and by mulching, you cam make the most any rain that does fall.
“Householders thinking of installing rainwater tanks should do so as soon as possible and make the most of any rainfall we get between now and the summer period. If possible rainwater tanks should be connected to toilets for flushing and even washing machines.
“Inside, swapping an old showerhead for a free 3-star one can dramatically cut water and energy bills, and diverting grey water to the garden can eliminate the need for watering.”
For water savings tips and more information on Target 155, visit target155.vic.gov.au.