Water waste pressure

By Ed Merrison
KNOX City Council’s claim to be a water leader has been branded an embarrassment amid revelations its own headquarters is wasting more than one million litres a year.
Darren Wallace, spokesman for Knox Environment Society, said the council was ‘gutless’ in failing to address water saving in Wantirna South’s Civic Centre.
The 12-year-old building contains 18 single-flush toilets and nine sensor-operated urinals which, if replaced by dual-flush and waterless urinals, could save 1.2 million litres of water a year according to council estimates.
Council officers also believe the changes would also save more than $1800 a year, while the total cost of the work is put at $20,000.
“It is totally unacceptable and an embarrassment to the council that such basic initiatives have not been funded,” Mr Wallace said.
“It is an appalling lack of action that is a waste of water and a waste of money.”
Mr Wallace told the council at a meeting on Tuesday, 24 October that $60,000 it saved by reappointing chief executive Graeme Emonson in August could go to rectifying the situation.
Paul Dickie, acting director of city strategy, said the council was compiling a business case on potential water saving measures at the Civic Centre for the mid-year budget review in December.
But Mr Wallace said new initiatives would still have to wait until the new year, during which time the council would continue to waste water at a rate of more than 3000 litres a day.
Ferntree Gully resident Kevin Knox was also eager to hold the council to its water-saving pledges, calling for an audit on how many council-owned public toilets had spring-loaded taps.
Mr Dickie estimated that most did not have them, but said the council was undertaking an audit on its public toilets.
The council will be progressively fitting water-saving taps and dual-flush toilets where they are not already in place, he said.
Mr Wallace called into question the council’s claim to be an environmental leader, saying it was time to put these words into action.
“When it comes to the crunch there’s a reticence to make what isn’t even a hard decision,” he said.
Tirhatuan Ward councillor Mick Van de Vreede said the Civic Centre set-up was ‘disgraceful’ and urged the council to ‘lead aggressively’ on water conservation.
“We need to be seen to act,” he said.