How Council is saving water and improving the quality of our water in Brimbank
As part of our long-term projects we need to address the challenges of climate change, population growth and improving waterway health without impacting our reliance on drinking water. We're committed to a whole of water cycle management approach to secure local water supplies, reduce water usage and enhance local waterways. Through our Sustainable Water Management Strategy (2013-2023), we've committed to targets that will reduce our potable water use, increase our use of alternative water sources, and reduce pollutants entering waterways. Part of our Water Strategy is to aim for water stewardship (using water wisely) and water quality (healthy waterways).
Council’s focus since the Strategy’s adoption has been to diversify irrigation supplies via alternative water sources for example, stormwater harvesting systems.
Alternative water sources
Council and Greater Western Water manage multiple stormwater harvesting systems that reduce our reliance on drinking water supplies. It makes Brimbank’s open space more resilient to the impacts of drought and water restrictions. These stormwater harvesting systems are at Cairnlea, Green Gully Reserve, Keilor Recreation Reserve, Keilor Golf Course and Balmoral Park. A further system at our Keilor Operations Centre harvests water for washing vehicles and garbage trucks.
In 2019/20, Council’s stormwater harvesting systems saved over 67ML of drinking water (or enough to fill 26 Olympic sized swimming pools).
In 2021, a new stormwater harvesting system will be completed at Dempster Park in Sunshine North.
Our target is to irrigate over 70 percent of our playing fields and open spaces from alternative sources.
Water quality
To further reduce the amount of stormwater pollutants reaching our waterways, Council has installed a growing number of other water sensitive urban design (WSUD) assets including raingardens, swales, tree pits and wetlands. In 2021 Brimbank currently has 137 raingardens, 30 swales, 21 tree pits and 35 wetlands.