WAT E R OP E RATIONS A ND TR EATME N T
BARWON WATER CELEBRATES BIRREGURRA SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES – WATER PROJECT
Barwon Water recently joined with the Birregurra community to celebrate the success of the first phases of the Birregurra Sustainable Communities – Water project, which has so far saved more than 11 million litres of water a year through leak detection and water efficiency.
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he Barwon Water water efficiency team was in Birregurra on 21 May for an event at the Community Hall to thank the township and in particular a group of 39 property owners who signed up to be dedicated “Water Savers”. The group actively tracked their household water usage and learnt how to be more water efficient inside and outside their homes. Barwon Water General Manager Customers and Community, Jo Murdoch, said the Birregurra Sustainable Communities – Water project started last summer with the installation of 400 digital meters at residences and businesses in the town. The meters helped identify 36 leaks and Barwon Water is working with property owners to have them fixed, so far saving an equivalent of about six Olympic-sized swimming pools. At the same time, a new Water Savers group started actively tracking their household water use and learnt how to be more water efficient inside and outside their homes via ongoing engagement with Barwon Water.
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UTILITY • AUGUST 2021
“We were absolutely thrilled with the enthusiasm of our Water Savers who responded to the information about their water use positively and proactively, leading over time to average daily savings of about 40L per person compared to the rest of the Birregurra community,” Ms Murdoch said. Some great examples included one household that reduced daily water consumption from 1,749L to 209L as the project progressed and another who brought their use down from about 1,200L to under 200L a day in the last week of the 12-week project. Ms Murdoch thanked the Birregurra community for partnering with Barwon Water on the unique place-based approach to water saving. She also acknowledged members of Birregurra Community Group, Birregurra Sustainability, the Friends of the Barwon and Colac Otway Shire for championing the project. “I’d like to extend particular thanks to our Water Savers Group who really embraced the Birregurra Sustainable Communities – Water project’s focus on behaviour change, leak detection and repair, and water efficiency measures,” Ms Murdoch said.
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