THE City of Cockburn has been endorsed as a ‘Gold Waterwise Council’ for its part in saving 12 billion litres of water for the state in 2015-16.
Cockburn was one of 19 councils recognised by the Water Corporation at a breakfast last month, which revealed local governments and businesses had helped save the equivalent of 5300 Olympic-sized swimming pools-worth of the precious resource.
Water Minister Dave Kelly said it was a massive effort.
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READ NOW“The significant water saving milestones being achieved by WA councils is encouraging and reinforces that everyone in the community has a responsibility to save precious water in our drying climate,” he said.
“Sustainable and innovative use of water supplies, matched with water sensitive planning and design, is key to keep water flowing through our taps in our homes, our public open spaces green, and our neighbourhoods great places to live.”
Cockburn environmental education officer Claire Dunn said the City had a number of initiatives in place to promote responsible water use.
Among those is a water efficiency action plan, a native plant subsidy scheme, the installation and retrofitting of water hardware within City facilities and a home and business eco audit program.
“The City is pleased with the recognition and (is) enthusiastic to continue with our water saving initiatives,” she said.
Tobias Busch and his wife Sajni moved into their Hamilton Hill home nine years ago, viewing the grassed lawn as a blank canvas to create something more sustainable.
The couple have taken advantage of the City’s native plant subsidy scheme and grant to make their garden what it is today.
“We have found a good balance of plants that work but also discovered some that don’t do well in our soil,” Mr Busch said.
“The subsidy has allowed us to get a selection of great quality and very reasonably priced local natives.
“We have used the subsidy scheme every year since establishing the garden, sometimes to restock plants we already have, but often to try something new.”
Mr Busch said the aim was “to restrict the use of water as much as possible”.
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