Water Campaign™ case study

MOONEE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL, VICTORIA

Saving water is child’s play: Preschool rainwater tank project

: Community action

: Corporate action

: Water conservation

Moonee Valley City Council, population 106,393, is nestled between Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs, just a few kilometres from the CBD. Council joined the Water Campaign™ in 2003.

Synopsis

Council identified the installation of rainwater tanks at all preschools in the area as an excellent opportunity to reduce water use at these facilities, which account for a high proportion of water consumption in the community.

: Rainwater tanks have been installed in preschools and kindergartens

Motivation

Moonee Valley is situated in a rain shadow that extends from the highlands towards Melbourne’s outer western suburbs and, as such, experiences relatively low rainfall compared with Melbourne’s eastern areas. The area is particularly vulnerable to water shortages and, according to Melbourne Water, contains two of the ten driest sites listed within the greater Melbourne area.

Therefore, water conservation is a high priority for Council and its decision to implement this project was based on its Milestone 1 corporate inventory, which indicated that childcare centres, pre-schools and maternal child health centres accounted for the third highest water consumption.

Cross-departmental integration was seen as an additional benefit as several departments were eager to work together on the project, including Facilities, Family and Children Services, and Environment.

Process

Facilities, Family and Children Services, and Environment worked together, managing the project through a cross-departmental approach. There was extensive consultation between Council managers and the pre-schools to discuss potential sites and opportunities for water savings and reuse.

Over the last three years, rainwater tanks have been installed at 15 pre-schools and kindergartens. The water collected is used for general irrigation and for children’s water play. Tanks in a range of sizes have been installed but on average, these facilities have the capacity to collect 1000 litres each.

There are no long-term maintenance costs or issues associated with the project, and the schools receive the financial benefits associated with their reduced water consumption.

Savings and benefits

Water conservation benefits

With the installation of 15 tanks, each holding on average 1000 litres, the potential annual mains water saving from this project is approximately 15 kilolitres.

Community leadership

The use of the rainwater tanks has become part of the pre-schools’ general education to the children on water conservation.

: One of the newly-installed rainwater tanks

Lessons learnt

Through implementing this project, the City of Moonee Valley has learned that it is very important to conduct a prior assessment of the use of the site so that the most appropriate tank for that site is purchased. Council found that when it did not carry out this on site assessment the result was that some tanks had to be replaced and swapped between the pre-schools as they did not match the location’s requirements.

As part of this process, it was key that project stakeholders maintain a high-level of communication to ensure that the rainwater tanks are located, used and maintained in the best way possible.

Further information

Moonee Valley City Council website

Penny Mueller

Contact details

For further information about the ICLEI Water Campaign™ in Australia please contact:

ICLEI Oceania
5/267 Collins St
Melbourne Vic 3000
Ph:   +61 3 9639 8688
Fax:   +61 3 9639 8677
Email:   oceania@iclei.org
Website:   www.iclei.org/oceania/water

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Council staff for their assistance in producing this case study.

Photographs supplied by Council.

Quoted population figures are taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Report 3218.0, Regional Population Growth, Australia 2006-07, March 2008.

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