Yarra Valley Water has teamed up with Whittlesea council to help save water through the Victorian Government’s WaterSmart program.
Support is being offered to help customers better understand and manage their water use, identify and fix leaks early and explore other ways to save water.
WaterSmart focuses on industries providing vital services to the community and those with the potential to make substantial water savings.
These include councils, hospitals, aged care facilities and selected large industrial users.
Recently, Yarra Valley Water worked with the Whittlesea council to install 10 data loggers at council facilities including sports ovals and reserves, recreation centres and the Mill Park Leisure Centre which has three swimming pools.
Whittlesea council chief executive Craig Lloyd said it would have taken much longer to identify these leaks without the data loggers.
“They’ve given us near real-time data about our water consumption,” he said.
“They’ve also allowed us to take quick actions to save water that would otherwise have been wasted – and save money off bills in the process.”
Mr Lloyd said the data loggers are also helping staff to investigate other potential causes of water use spikes at Council facilities and plan for improvements.
In the last six months, the data provided has enabled council to identify leaks and take timely action to fix them. At one sports pavilion, the data loggers spotted a problem with a valve, saving 150 litres of water an hour.
Yarra Valley Water general manager of community and strategy Tiffany White said the program involves working with customers to carry out a comprehensive one-off water audit and provide digital water monitoring devices.
Known as data loggers, the devices attach to water meters to record water use every 15 minutes.
“This data is made available to customers through a secure online portal which gives organisations near real time visibility of their water use,” she said.
“This enables them to identify and fix leaks and find opportunities for equipment and fixture upgrades, as well as exploring ways to reduce their water use.
“The program helps organisations be more sustainable, save money on their water bills and protect water supplies for the future.”
