Barwon Water has received $271,000 in funding from the state government to help businesses and organisations monitor water use as part of the WaterSmart program.
The program, launched last week in Portarlington by water minister Harriet Shing, will be delivered in partnership with water corporations across the state to gather water use data to help detect leaks and minimise the waste of potable water.
Also present were representatives from Barwon Water and public coastal land committee of management Bellarine Bayside, who administer a number of holidays parks, playgrounds, boat ramps and boat sheds.
For the past year Barwon Water has worked with Bellarine Bayside Foreshore Committee of Management to install water use data loggers on committee-managed sites in Portarlington, St Leonards and Indented Head.
By detecting about 50 leaks, Bellarine Bayside implemented repairs and early notification systems to save an estimated four million litres of water over the 12-month period.
Bellarine MP Alison Marchant said the project demonstrated the scale of the benefits the WaterSmart program could deliver to council organisations, committees of management and other large community-based organisations.
“Barwon Water is a leader in this space, I think they’re doing incredible things,” Ms Marchant said.
“This program is really targeted at organisations that are using a high volume of water to monitor if there are places where they can improve their water efficiency.
“So it’s a great way of not only saving our precious water and being environmentally friendly, but also it’s going to benefit (these organisations) in the long run with these water saving measures having an impact on their water bills.”
Ms Shing said the project undertaken by Barwon Water and Bellarine Bayside was a great example of how the WaterSmart initiative would help business save precious drinking water.
“This free monitoring helps to identify any leaks or inefficiencies so they can be fixed quickly, saving water and delivering bill savings for businesses, other organisations such as councils, and the community,” she said.
Barwon Water chair Jo Plummer said the program would help them meet the region’s water needs.
“Water saving initiatives… are good for the environment and are strongly supported by our customers, which is why we’re leading the way with a variety of water saving programs to save water into the future, including through new technology,” Ms Plummer said.
