A welcomed water pest
29 January 2016
Four months into her job, Waipa District Council's new water demand management officer Renee Coutts admits she is enjoying making a pest of herself.
Renee, whose job is to monitor water management and develop water conservations strategies, has been hassling her council colleagues to be smarter with water. She's currently developing a water efficiency policy that will outline what the Council should do to reduce its own water consumption.
We actively encourage Waipa residents to reduce their water use every summer, so it's important we lead the way, Coutts said.
It's an opportunity for a fresh set of eyes to look over everything council does in the water space and consider new and innovative ways to decrease our own water consumption.
A number of water saving initiatives are already underway:
- The parks and reserves team have installed water efficient irrigation lines that allow pulse watering. This directs water straight to the plant roots every 10 minutes, meaning no waste.
- All irrigation timers are set to only work between 6-8am and 6-8pm.
- Council gardens and some trees are mulched to help retain moisture in the soil and keep weeds down. The wood chip is recycled from trees that have been pruned or removed.
- When they are due for renewal, all council water appliances will be replaced with high WELS star-rated products which use less water.
- Water leak remedial work is prioritised throughout the year and reported leaks are fixed as soon as possible. The team are also happy to advise residents on how to fix leaks on their property.
- The sub-regional Smart Water campaign has introduced a fun and interactive educational resource and is sharing the Smart Water message at community market days .
Other initiatives are also planned, including used recycling water used to water public gardens.
While current water restrictions only apply to residential properties, Coutts' role also involves working alongside large commercial users like Fonterra to drive down water consumption. Fonterra has two plants in the Waipa district; one in Te Awamutu and one in Hautapu.
A number of initiatives are underway. Fonterra already provides waste water to the Waipa Racing Club which uses it to dampen down its racing track. At the height of the season the racing club use 20,000 litres of water each day.
Fonterra's environmental team lead Michael Brock says it's a win-win situation.
We're putting our wastewater to good use and helping reduce the strain on local services.
Fonterra's Hautapu site aims to save 1,000m3 of water per day, he said. It's already achieving savings by:
- Fine-tuning cleaning and general water us procedures - saving more than 400,000 litres per day
- Re-developing three existing bores and saving around 100,000 litres per day.
- Developing a new test bore with an anticipated saving of 400,000 litres per day. The new bore should be operational next month.
Dairy is a water intensive process and we recycle and re-use our water wherever possible. It's great to be able to relieve some pressure on the town supply, Brock said.
Waipa district, along with Waikato district and Hamilton city, remains on water alert level 2 meaning sprinklers can only be used on alternate days 6-8 early or late.
Residents are being asked to consider how small changes to water use in the household can help conserve water.
For tips and tricks on saving water at home go to smartwater.org.nz .