What We Do

The Smart Water Fund has two key aims:

  • To invest in industry led applied research projects that deliver commercially focused outcomes and quantifiable return on investment.
  • To relentlessly pursue knowledge transfer opportunities that drive knowledge uptake and utilisation.

We have conducted eight funding rounds to date, in which approximately 180 projects have received total funding of $25 million toward a total research value of $50 million.

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The Knowledge Hub

The Knowledge Hub is a key strategic component of the Smart Water Fund's knowledge transfer strategy. Its objective is to create a central information repository for the Victorian Water Industry and their customers.

It currently showcases a wide range of investments in innovation supported by the Smart Water Fund across eight priority research themes; and it provides access to case studies, reports, tools, image galleries and project related links.

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Latest Featured Projects

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Sustainable Water Options for Sports Fields

The Sportsfield Irrigation Software is targeted at helping review Melbourne’s future developments and existing irrigation practices for sports fields.

Its objective is to provide an information package for decision makers on the development and management of sports fields, with a software model to quantify irrigation water and nutrient demand and their dependence on the use of alternative water sources.

Reducing water consumption for fire fighting training by recycling water

Fire fighting training that simulates real life situations is critical to the safety of the public and success of firefighting and emergency services. This training requires the use of large quantities of water which is normally discharged directly to the stormwater system.

Following an extensive audit of its operations and associated water use, the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board (MFB) recognised it had an opportunity to undertake a program to benchmark, track and reduce their water use during training activities.

Creating Groundwater Directory for Greater Melbourne

There is a wealth of hydrogeological (groundwater) information available for the Greater Melbourne region. However, its value for water managers, policy-makers, business and the community is limited by how difficult it is to find, access and understand.

To make accessing the data easy, the Victorian Government and Sinclair Knight Merz created the Melbourne Groundwater Map. The Map combines several key groundwater data sources into a single, user-friendly format.

Developing Aquifer Storage & Recovery opportunities in greater Melbourne

The potential to capture and harness stormwater has been identified as a key opportunity in developing strategies for long-term sustainable water management.

Aquifers have already proven to be a successful option for storing stormwater on a commercial scale in other parts of Australia. These underground formations allow water to percolate through them and act as natural storage facilities.

Development of the Car Wash Water Saver Rating Scheme

The car wash industry recognises that it can help reduce the amount of water used in washing cars by helping car wash operators promote the concept of commercial carwashes and showing them ways of attracting new customers.

To achieve their goal of increasing car owners use of commercial car washes from 35 per cent to 60 per cent, the Australian Car Wash Association trialled a Car Wash Water Saver Rating Scheme, with the ultimate aim of helping car owners and the car wash industry to reduce the amount of drinking water used to wash cars.

Smart Garden Watering Website Stage 2.0 - incorporating social networking

SmartGardenwatering.org.au was created by the University of Melbourne with the help of a Smart Water Fund Round 3 grant to help gardeners in Melbourne be more efficient in their garden watering habits.

The University of Melbourne has received a Round 6 grant to expand SmartGardenWatering.org.au to support the creation of online gardening communities.

Designing environmentally sustainable houses and apartments

The EME group is committed to designing residential, commercial, retail and school buildings that integrate water management, recycling and conservation, significantly reducing water usage and saving money.

The challenge is to encourage developers to instinctively incorporate water saving devices in residential design and to convince them of the positive benefits for both developer and resident.

Recycled water handbook for the amenity horticulture industry

Communications and consulting company Arris, which specialises in amenity and production agriculture and environmental risk management, set out to assess the barriers to adoption of recycled water use in the industry and determine its specific needs regarding water reuse and recycled water irrigation schemes.

Once the barriers were determined, Arris aimed to improve the development and adoption of recycled water use by creating a user handbook, training programs and workshops to overcome these barriers.