With summer finally upon us, Melburnians are being asked to do their part and put water efficiency first as part of the rebooted, world-leading Target 155 program.
Minister for Water Lisa Neville today visited Melbourne Zoo to announce the reactivation of Target 155 and encouraged everyone to embrace the campaign and use water wisely over the summer months.
And it’s not just Melbourne householders getting involved.
Melbourne Zoo is already leading the way in water efficiency – collecting 90 per cent of its water from the zoo grounds through an onsite water treatment plant.
Over the last decade, Target 155 has seen Melburnians make significant changes to their water use – with a 22 per cent fall in water consumption. And there’s always more to do.
The former Liberal Government hastily dumped the program, despite the fact that it helped save billions of litres of water.
If everyone saved just over a bucket of water per day, that would equate to around 49 million litres of water a day – the equivalent of nearly 20 Olympic size swimming pools.
While recent rainfall has been welcome, climate change and population growth continue to pose a serious risk to our water security – with our catchments and storages set to again experience dry periods in the future.
For the last two years, we have been building the water infrastructure our state needs to support Victorian communities.
Water for Victoria also sets out a plan to further expand the grid, protect jobs and agriculture, recognise Aboriginal water values and improve environmental health.
The Government has also launched the regional partner to Target 155 – Target Your Water Use. This is a tailored program to encourage rural and regional Victorians to use their water wisely.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Water Lisa Neville
“With a hot, dry summer on its way, it’s never been a better time for Victorians to start thinking about how to use water wisely.”
“I’m proud to bring back this world-leading campaign because everyone needs to play their role in saving water – particularly as we deal with the challenges of climate change and population growth into the future.”
“It’s never been a better time to Target 155.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020