Displaying items by tag: Harvesting

Having such a large number of visitors in a regional coastal area presents a challenge for the local environment, with toilet use in Phillip Island Nature Parks using valuable drinking water from the Candowie Reservioir, which in 2006 fell to just 4 per cent.

With the local reservoir at risk of running dry, the Penguin Parade faced the task of reducing its demand on the local drinking water supply for uses other than drinking and educating visitors on this environmental challenge.

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.

Millions of litres of water is produced from Victorian rooftops and paved surfaces, such as car parks and driveways, every year.

While the collection and recycling of this water has become a viable water saving option during drought conditions, the use of this water also presents some challenges.

Some attractions at Sovereign Hill require high levels of water to operate, with an operating steam exhibit consuming up to 5,500 litres of water per day, a number of ornamental and heritage gardens, as well as a circulating gold panning creek.

With nearly half a million annual visitors, Sovereign Hill realised that it was in a perfect position to communicate information about water saving strategies and ideas.

The Nestle Pakenham Factory Water Wise team came up with the idea of using the 5,500 square metre factory roof for rainwater catchment. The group recognised that the unused 1.2 million litre capacity water tanks onsite would be ideal for storing the rainwater.

Recycled water cannot be used in food processing for hygiene reasons, so the challenge for the Water Wise team was to devise an innovative use for the rainwater collected.

Maintaining Victoria's State Netball Hockey Centre's two synthetic wet hockey pitches to international standards required around 24 megalitres of drinking quality water every year.

This huge drain on Melbourne's water resources was a concern shared by sportsmen and women, the wider community and the Centre's management. In response, the State Netball Hockey Centre took up the challenge to find an alternative source of water.

Each year approximately 650GL of water, nearly double Melbourne's annual consumption, falls in the urban areas of the city. As such, stormwater has been identified as a valuable resource that offers benefits for water conservation and water recycling.

Monash University and the University of New South Wales were awarded a grant to identify any human and environmental risks, as well as the potential benefits of substituting stormwater for potable water in urban environments.