Water savings to flow
TOWNSVILLE City Council is offering $ 10 million in incentives for households to save water.
The council released details of the community support package yesterday which is aimed at helping homeowners, renters and body corporates be more water efficient.
It has been funded as part of the State Government’s $ 225 million Townsville water security initiative announced in 2016. Households will be eligible for vouchers up to $ 300 and body corporates up to $ 1000.
Council CEO Adele Young said the package was unique, Townsville specific and focused on the dry tropics.
AS MANY as 20,000 Townsville households will be eligible for hundreds of dollars in vouchers for water- saving devices under a highly anticipated community support package.
Townsville City Council released details of the $ 10 million package yesterday that is aimed at helping homeowners, renters and body corporates be more water efficient. It has been funded as part of the State Government’s $ 225 million Townsville water security initiative announced in 2016.
The council has looked to schemes around Australia to develop a package suited to the dry tropics and which will provide the maximum benefit across the community.
Support packages have been tailored for pensioners and those receiving support payments such as Newstart, for households and for body corporates. Pensioners and those on support payments will be eligible for vouchers of up to $ 500.
Households will be eligible for vouchers up to $ 300 and body corporates up to $ 1000.
The vouchers will be used to access water- saving devices such as rainwater tanks, pool covers and smart irrigation controllers, and garden support packages such as waterwise plants, mulch deliveries and compost bins.
Mayor Jenny Hill said the package was “best practice”, while council CEO Adele Young said it was unique, Townsville specific and focused on the dry tropics.
“The way council has structured this package will give everyone the chance to access support to make their homes and gardens more water efficient,” Cr Hill said.
“Pensioners and households won’t need to dip into their own pocket to receive water- efficient garden products such as irrigation timers and drought- tolerant plants.
“Council has deliberately structured the package so anyone in the community, from homeowners to renters and those on low incomes, can receive a voucher.”
The council’s water security program director Inga Davis said they were targeting about 5600 households of low socioeconomic status, and up to 14,500 general homeowners and renters. If that target were reached, about $ 7.15 million in funding would be provided.
“We’ve done a lot of re- search around other schemes around Australia to look at how we target the uptake and get the maximum number of residents involved with the amount of money we have available,” Ms Davis said.
She said a registration- ofinterest process, with forms available online and from the council, would give the council an understanding of how many households would be involved. She said it would be “first in, best dressed”.
“We will be doing every- thing we can to get the maximum number of households and we spend all the money and it gets to where it’s needed,” Ms Davis said. “We are aiming to get a 20 per cent ( water) saving for the households in the program.”
Cr Hill said the council would have a group of preferred suppliers, and the AEC group would be employed to roll out an education and promotions campaign.
Celebrity gardener Jamie Durie was contracted to lead an education program last year, and Cr Hill said he remained part of the campaign and that contract was still in place. Cr Hill said Mr Durie could still provide “some value to the community”, but that it was up to AEC how they rolled out the education campaign.
The package will start in the first quarter of 2019.
For more details and to access the registration- of- interest form, visit: fs6. formsite. com / t o w n s v i l l e c c / f o r m 6 0 2 / index. html