Barwon Water partners with Bellarine Bayside to save water

Barwon Water and Bellarine Bayside Foreshore Committee of Management (Bellarine Bayside) are teaming up to promote sustainable water use at the six holiday parks the foreshore committee manages.

Barwon Water Acting General Manager Customers and Community Jane Tyzack said that the partnership would cover education and awareness activities, water usage monitoring, leak detection and repair as well as upgrades to fixtures and fittings to improve water efficiency.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with Bellarine Bayside to preserve our precious resource.

“Barwon Water is committed to building partnerships that promote and improve water efficiency as well as providing sustainable benefits to the community and coastal towns of Portarlington, Indented Head and St Leonards.”

Ms Tyzack said Barwon Water, like other water corporations around the state, faced the challenge of finding more water to cater for a growing population at the same time that climate-dependant sources of water were becoming less reliable in a hotter drier climate.

“Improved water efficiency has an important role to play in meeting this challenge so we are looking to partner strategically with local businesses and organisations to preserve our precious resource.”

Bellarine Bayside chief executive officer Bruce Elliot said the partnership with Barwon Water stemmed from a sustainability audit undertaken by Bellarine Bayside at its sites that covered energy, waste and water.

“We are committed to environmental stewardship and wanted to increase our efforts to reduce our environmental footprint.

“We are excited to partner with Barwon Water and look forward to working together to save water in the coming years.”

The first stages of the partnership involve installing signage in all of Bellarine Bayside’s holiday park amenities to promote sustainable water use.

“The first stage of the project will focus on holiday parks that we manage, encouraging visitors to think about ways they can help conserve water while on holidays,” Mr Elliot said.

Ms Tyzack said that Barwon Water and Bellarine Bayside were working together on stage two of the project to utilise digital meters and data loggers to track water usage patterns and detect leaks.

“Understanding water consumption patterns at the sites that use the most water will inform stage three of the project: water efficiency upgrades, which will conserve and preserve water.”

Bellarine Bayside manages 17 kilometres of coastal Crown land reserve, including six holiday parks that provide a range of accommodation options for visitors and annual guests. They are a major user of potable water in the Bellarine region across various sites including public amenities, foreshore reserves and holiday parks.