Claremont council's Waterwise achievement

• WA's 19th Waterwise Council announced

• Program has already saved 11 billion litres of water in 3 years

Replacing inefficient and aging irrigation systems and conducting water audits to detect leaks has earned the Town of Claremont the title of Waterwise Council.

Water Minister Bill Marmion today congratulated Claremont on becoming WA's 19th Waterwise Council, saying the town's concentration on developing efficient water management plans and systems was a major accomplishment.

"Claremont has replaced old, inefficient irrigation systems with new ones to increase the efficiency of water application," Mr Marmion said.

"The system has leak detection technology, and irrigation scheduling based on the daily evapotranspiration rates to make sure only the minimum amount of water is used to maintain the turf. This is making best use of valuable groundwater resources in watering public open spaces."

The Minister said Claremont was one of 17 local governments which used the important Gnangara groundwater resource for its public open spaces.

"Swales to capture nutrients are being used to improve the quality of stormwater before it is infiltrated into the superficial aquifer," he said.

The city had also achieved improvements in scheme water use.

"The town conducted a water audit of the Claremont pool and found some leaks which had caused water spikes of up to 10,000 litres per day," Mr Marmion said.

"This has been repaired and reduced annual water consumption by half, with further planned scheme water efficiency measures expected to reduce annual consumption by another 34 per cent."

The Waterwise Council program is run through collaboration between the Department of Water, Water Corporation and the International Council for Local Environment Initiatives - Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI). In order to achieve Waterwise Council status, councils must demonstrate improved water management at corporate and community levels by setting and achieving goals to reduce their water consumption.

      Fact File

• Town of Claremont has created demonstration gardens using Waterwise species with low water demand, including succulents

• Eliminated all public open space watering from scheme supply

• Installed flow meters on 60% of all bores with schedules for 100% in next 3 years

Minister's office - 6552 6800