Birregurra Sustainable Communities - Water

Thank you to all our wonderful 'Water Savers' who participated in our behaviour change pilot project over the summer and congratulations to those who reduced their consumption!

A summary report outlining the main findings of the Water Savers summer pilot project has been completed and will be distributed to our Water Saver participants.

There have been some interesting findings, with our Water Savers showing a significant reduction in their summer water use during the 12-week pilot. The Water Savers reduced their consumption during the 2020/21 summer by around 29% or 89 litres per person per day. Overall our Water Savers group saved around 643 kilolitres or 0.6 ML during the 12-week summer pilot, congratulations to all those who participated!

The full pilot project report is now available and can be accessed in the Useful Documents section.

The Birregurra community are invited to a community pop-up event to learn more about the next stage of the Sustainable Communities - Water initiative.

When: Friday 21 May 11am - 12.30pm

Where: Birregurra Hall, 42-44 Market Street (outside in The Yard if weather permitting)

This is your chance to ask questions about the project and ask Barwon Water staff about all things water.

Please note, to make this a COVID safe event we will have clear signage, masks and sanitiser available and ask everyone to keep to a safe physical distance.

Thank you to all who signed up to our Water Savers program.

Expression of Interest to join the group have now closed, however you can still be involved by:

• following us on social media @BarwonWater for some water saving tips and tricks;
• reviewing our permanent water saving rules; and
• monitoring your own water usage here.

We are thrilled to be partnering with the local Birregurra community on this groundbreaking project and we look forward to working with you to creating a more sustainable community together.

The first stage of the project will focus on understanding how you use water.

To support this, we will replace your water meter with a new digital meter as part of our regular meter replacement program.

Installation of the new meters will take place over a three-week period, commencing in November 2020.

There will be no cost to you and there won’t be any changes to your current meter reading and billing processes. If you foresee any issues regarding access to your property (such as locked gates), please contact our Metering team on 1300 656 007 or info@barwonwater.vic.gov.au

Once the meters are installed, you will be invited to take part in a “Water Savers” pilot project. The project will see you monitor your home or business water use through an online platform to determine when you use water the most and if you have any undetected leaks. We will also support you to repair any leaks identified, which will save money on your bill.

The Birregurra Sustainable Communities - Water information pack provides further details about the project and how to get involved.

Watch back our interactive zoom webinar about the Birregurra Sustainable Communities – Water initiative and learn how to get involved with the Water Savers group.

The webinar was hosted on December 14, 7.00pm - 8.00pm via Zoom.

You will hear from special guests about:

- Birregurra Sustainable Communities - Water

- How digital meters help with identifying leaks

- Water Savers pilot project

- Coliban Water’s experience with digital meters

- and Colac Otway Shire's sustainability projects

Click here to watch.