The Water Wise Workshops, held by the Caldera Environment Centre and the Northern Rivers Guardians last week, showcased Sydney’s Olympic Park water-management system and told the beautiful story of a toxic waste-site transformed into a conservation wonderland.
It made Tweed’s water challenges look relatively easy.
To hear that the Water Authority had such faith in the system that they were willing to test it on the Olympics was so inspiring.
Olympic Park now achieves water savings of 40–90 per cent through reusing water for toilets, gardens and other appropriate uses such as laundry, air-conditioners, the numerous water fountains and the extensive wetlands.
It was clear from both presenters that having a number of diverse water-supply methods is far superior to having only one source of water supply. We hope to continue this conversation with Council and we will be hosting further public workshops in the future.
I would like to thank Tweed Council’s GM David Keenan, Council staff and Crs Milne, Longland and Holdom for attending the workshop specially organised for the council, and also to Mr Reg Van Rij, manager of Leda Developments, who responded to our invitation and joined in the discussions with the community on Saturday.
And our special thanks to the two presenters Dr Andrzej Listowski from Sydney Olympic Park and Duncan Thomson from Geolink Consulting in Lennox Head for sharing their wonderful stories and expertise.
Joanna Gardner, coordinator
Why weren’t councillors Polglase, Youngblutt, Skinner and van Lieshout present? Don’t they want to learn about wise water use? Or are they so fixed on damming (=damning) Byrrill Creek that they can’t admit they could be wrong?
It was a brilliant presentation, professional and very inspiring. Even Leda’s manager appeared to be impressed and surprised us all by showing genuine interest in the techniques used at SOP.