Kiama Council slash water usage

Kiama Council is planning to slash water usage in the municipality by as much as 40 percent within four years.

Council has been forced to reconsider their water usage after new legislation insisted they develop a water saving action plan after the NSW governments 2004 Metropolitan Water Plan for Sydney found that the Sydney metropolitan area is using more water than is sustainable.

Over the next 25 years the existing shortfall between the amount of water and the amount provided by catchment is also set to increase.

Director of Environmental Services Andrew Knowlson said that council staff have prepared the water savings action plan in accordance with the issued guidelines saying the plan sets corporate strategies to be implemented across councils total operations.

Kiama council considers it should be seen as a leader in water saving and encourages all residents and businesses to review their usage and implement water saving actions on their own, he said.

Council has set a water usage reduction target for its total operation of 40 percent by 2010 based on its baseline water usage in the 2002/2003 financial year.

As part of the plan council has compiled a list of the 11 top water users in the district. The Leisure Centre, Blue Haven nursing home, Kiama Showground and Kiama depot all feature among the highest water users in the region while the rest of the places in the top 11 are all taken up by the municipalities holiday parks .

These 11 facilities have been found to consume 70 percent of the councils annual water consumption but represent only 6 percent of the total sites needed.

According to the report council plans to reduce water-usage over the next four years through the installation of reduced flush and dual flush cisterns, water saving shower heads and taps while also monitoring the overall water flow and identifying and reducing leaks.

The report also states that council will be required to provide annual funding as part of its budget estimates for the implementation of various identified strategies. Some of the projects may be suitable to receive grant funding.

Legislation requires that a comprehensive review of all plans will be required to be undertaken every four years.

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