Media Release

29 Jan 2007

Community Saves 250 Billion Litres of Water

Sydney Water customers have now saved 250 billion litres of water, about half the volume of Sydney Harbour, since October 2003.

These outstanding water saving efforts have been achieved not only through water restrictions, but also through a number of water saving programs.

Customers have made a huge contribution to saving water with the help of programs like Sydney Water’s free Do-It-Yourself water saving kit, the WaterFix offer to install water saving devices, and rebates on water efficient washing machines and rainwater tanks.

Industrial, commercial and government customers, who use 30 per cent of our water, have also played their part through the Every Drop Counts Business Program. The program provides free assistance to identify and implement water savings for high water users.

Water saving program successes include:

• WaterFix: Almost one in four homes, or more than 384,200 households, have participated producing savings of around eight billion litres per year;
  
• Rainwater tanks: 30,000 rebates paid, worth $9.5 million, saving 1.2 billion litres per year;
  
• Washing machine rebates: More than 26,600 washing machine rebates paid, totalling more than $3.9 million and saving more than 569 million litres of water each year; and
  
• Every Drop Counts Business Program: Almost 350 organisations at more than 1,600 sites now participate, savings about 9.3 billion litres of water per year.

These programs have made a huge difference, but with dams at historically low levels, we need to continue to use our most precious resource wisely.

The current water restrictions are:

• Hand-held hosing of lawns and gardens and drip irrigation is only permitted on Wednesdays and Sundays before 10am and after 4pm. No other watering systems or sprinklers are to be used at any time.
  
• A permit is required to fill new or renovated pools bigger than 10,000 litres.
  
• No hosing of hard surfaces including vehicles at any time.
  
• No hoses or taps to be left running unattended, except when filling pools or containers.
  
• Fire hoses must only be used for fire fighting purposes – not for cleaning.

 

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