Water Campaign™ case study

A print version of this case study is available to download. [PDF document, 570KB]

City of Darebin: Darebin Green Precinct Initiative

: Corporate action

: Community action

: Partnerships

: Water Conservation

The City of Darebin, Victoria, is located approximately nine kilometres north of the Melbourne CBD, and has a population of 130,649.

Council has been a participant in the Water Campaign™ and ICLEI member since 2004.

Synopsis

Through the Darebin Green Precinct (DGP) initiative, Council has worked with local schools, community groups and Yarra Trams to save millions of litres of water in the community.

The DGP initiative is a community water conservation project that developed from a Yarra Trams environmental scheme at the East Preston Tram Depot in 2005.

Following the success of their initial actions, Yarra Trams approached Darebin City Council to help expand the project throughout the community.

The initiative was one of the first combined community partnership-building and water saving projects to receive funding from the Australian Government’s Community Water Grants.

: Rainwater tanks at the Preston Library

Motivation

Darebin City Council strongly supports water conservation and alternative water use for purposes that do not require potable quality.

For example, Council reuses rainwater at a number of council-owned sites, and utilises stormwater from a nearby housing estate to irrigate a public golf course in Bundoora Park.

When approached by Yarra Trams to partner in the DGP initiative, Council immediately recognised the potential for substantial community benefits.

While environmental factors influenced Council’s decision to join the initiative, the main driver was its commitments to implement the Darebin Sustainable Water Use Plan (SWUP), and its participation in ICLEI Oceania’s Water Campaign™.

The chief aim of the Darebin SWUP is to reduce the amount of potable consumed by Council, while encouraging and promoting water conservation across all sectors of the community.

The Darebin SWUP was developed in partnership with Melbourne Water, Yarra Valley Water and the Municipal Association of Victoria.

Darebin Sustainable Water Use Plan [PDF document, 777KB]

Council is in the process of completing Milestones 2 and 3 of the Water Campaign™. The actions undertaken as part of the DGP initiative will help Council achieve both the community and corporate targets set at Milestone 2.

While Milestone 1 inventory results indicated that the sites chosen for the DGP were not those with Council’s highest water use, the Council Office and Library were selected for their high profile.

In particular, Preston library was considered an ideal site to promote water saving initiatives to residents due to its integral community role and proximity to the local market.

The DGP initiative is Australia’s first coordinated and integrated urban water saving project, and the following organisations, schools and community groups work to conserve and reduce water use:

City of Darebin
Yarra Trams
Environment Victoria
Yarra Valley Water
Preston Girls Secondary College
Samaritan Catholic College
Sacred Heart Primary School
Ruthven Primary School
Thornbury High School
Northcote High School
Aborigines Advancement League
Rosa Gilbert Home/Sprouts Community Garden (Richmond Fellowship).

Darebin City Council took on a coordination role, which included promoting the initiative’s successes to the local community through Council’s newsletter, distributed to all residents.

After the approach from Yarra Trams, the two organisations then contacted local schools to take part in the project. Community support was strong, particularly after a number of schools indicated their intention to participate in 2005.

Together with Environment Victoria and Yarra Valley Water, Council provided support to the other partners, including assistance with funding applications and how to find advice on water saving equipment.

Yarra Trams opened their East Preston Depot as a demonstration site to show other interested parties the effectiveness of their water saving devices.

: Rain water tanks at the Yarra Trams East Preston Depot

All partners submitted separate applications for their water saving projects and received a total of $450,000 in funding from the Australian Government’s Community Water Grants.

The funding has supported the implementation of many projects including the installation of rainwater tanks, three-star rated showerheads, flow restrictors, dual flush toilets and waterless urinals, which have resulted in substantial water savings.

Individual project partners have been responsible for administering the financial aspect of their actions and monitoring their water savings.

Council is now seeking opportunities to expand the DGP message throughout the community, recently producing an information brochure about the DGP that includes water smart ideas for households and businesses.

The brochure will soon be distributed through the DGP partners and a launch is planned at one of the participating schools later in the year, which will involve local media, representatives of the DGP partners and students’ families.

Council is also planning an open day for September or October 2007 to display the effectiveness of its DGP actions to the community.

More details about how each partner contributed to the project are below:

City of Darebin

: Council's waterless urinals are a big water saver

Council has installed water saving devices in many council buildings, including dual flush toilets, waterless urinals and flow restrictors.

A part-time staff member in Council’s Environment Strategy Group was responsible for working with the DGP partners and implementing Council’s water conservation actions.

The Darebin SWUP demonstrates Council’s commitment to sustainable water management in the municipality. Further political support was provided for the DGP initiative through letters of support for the funding application.

Rainwater tanks have been installed underground at the Reservoir Civic Centre, Reservoir Leisure Centre, Northcote Town Hall and the Darebin International Sports Centre.

The Preston Library has installed two aboveground 45,400 litre rainwater tanks for toilet flushing and garden watering. Rainwater tanks have also been planned for more sites in the future.

In addition, Council is re-sowing its sports fields with drought tolerant grasses and plans to include water sensitive urban design (WSUD) in future developments to improve water quality and conserve water.

Yarra Trams

Three 18,000 litre rainwater tanks have been installed at the Yarra Trams East Preston Depot. The tanks collect water from the depot roof for tram washing and toilet flushing.

The depot has also installed waterless urinals, flow restrictors, three-star rated showerheads and created a drought tolerant garden. These measures saved 424,800 litres of drinking water at the depot in 2005–06.

Schools and community groups

Schools and community groups involved with the DGP initiative have installed or are installing rainwater tanks, dual flush toilets, waterless urinals, flow restrictors, automatic leak protection systems and smart water meters.

They are using rainwater for toilet flushing, gardening and sport fields, which is saving millions of litres of potable water.

Savings and benefits

Water conservation

Up to 14 million litres of savings in potable water per year are expected from the combined sites of the DGP.

Community engagement

The initiatives are helping children and the community understand the importance of sustainable living and adopt community-wide objectives. Schools participating as DGP partners have been particularly effective in involving students and their families.

: The DGP was launched at Samaritan Catholic College

Partner approach

Partners found great benefit in learning from others’ experiences. New partners could see the value of installing water saving devices by visiting the demonstration site at the Yarra Trams East Preston Depot.

Other social and environmental benefits

In addition to the financial savings from using less water, the DGP has created valuable social and environmental benefits.

For example, 14 million litres of water left in the reservoir will provide financial savings by requiring less investment in infrastructure and lower pumping costs.

Costs

The total cost of the projects at all sites is difficult to judge. However the $450,000 in funding allocated by the Community Water Grants indicates the extensive range of the DGP initiative.

Lessons learnt

Some of the obstacles faced by Council included:

The difficulty of coordinating so many partners when there was no formal commitment or clear definition of roles, and managing time effectively when trying to organise an event or have all partners review a document.

It is suggested that councils who wish to embark on similar multi-partner project consider establishing a partnership agreement, a committee with representatives from all groups, and terms of reference including roles and responsibilities of the individual organisations.

A centralised system of management could investigate the possible benefits of bulk purchasing options.

The lack of resources to put the initiative into practice was a considerable constraint, particularly as Council only had a part-time employee working on all water related issues and the DGP for two days a week.

Although working with such a large number of partners can present challenges, Council found the enthusiasm displayed by the many participants a real motivator for action.

Further information

City of Darebin website

See the Community Water Grants website for information about current funding and lists of previous grant recipients.

Contact details

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

ICLEI Oceania
4/267 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 Mazib Rahman, Environment Officer, City of Darebin, for his assistance.

This case study was produced with the support of funding from the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources.

Quoted Population figures are taken from the 2002 Australian Bureau of Statistics Report, 2000–01 Regional Population Grown: Australia And New Zealand.

Call for future case studies

Does your council have an initiative that could be promoted by the Water Campaign™?

If your council has implemented an innovative water saving initiative or project to improve water quality, we may be able to profile your action in a future case study. Contact your Water Campaign™ state manager with details.

Back to case studies menu.

Search | Site Policy | Contact