Former cricketer Vakeesh Ganesharatnam didn’t want to see his local sporting field turn to straw the next time drought stuck.
So the Mill Park resident signed up for Whittlesea council’s innovative water-saving program and installed a 4000-litre rainwater tank.
A council agreement with Yarra Valley Water means that by connecting his water tank to the washing machine, toilet and garden hose, potable water from the utility’s underground pipes ordinarily used for these appliances will instead be reserved for watering Mill Park Reserve.
Mr Ganesharatnam was the first Whittlesea resident to sign up for the council’s water offset program now being trialled.
The program ensures that each time a household installs an approved water tank, it frees up potable water for irrigating local sports grounds.
“I remember when we had serious drought conditions in 2006, we didn’t have any water to maintain the field,” Mr Ganesharatnam said.
“When this opportunity came up I jumped at it. I didn’t want that to happen again.”
Whittlesea council’s stormwater management co-ordinator Edmond Lascaris says the council is offering residents a $2000 rebate on their water tank, and they can also qualify for a further rebate of up to $1500 from Yarra Valley Water if they connect it to their toilet or laundry.
So far, 30 residents have expressed interest in the program and 10 home owners have signed the terms of agreement and are presently seeking quotes for a tank.
“As soon as someone installs a 4000-litre tank they save about 40,000 litres of tap water in a typical year, and that stays in our reservoirs,” Mr Lascaris said.
He said there were about 1400 sports groups in Melbourne with most relying on tap water to be irrigated. “Ideally, we need about 100 households to sign up to drought-proof one.”
