Dear Councillors,
We were heartened to read an article in the Tweed Coast Times, ‘Leading the way for a sustainable future water supply’ (October 6).
In the article Sharon Cadwallader, newly reelected as a councillor to Rous County Council (RCC) and Ballina Mayor, said working to minimise water demand from big water users is an important part of water sustainability. Eight Reflections holiday parks between Evans Head and Brunswick Heads were supported by RCC’s Sustainable Water Partner program to save 8.9 million litres of water annually. Water-efficient showers and smart water meters were installed to continuously monitor and quickly detect water leaks. Rous said that last financial year participating businesses received planning support and rebates totalling $30,000, with annual cost savings of $10,000 achieved through optimising their water use.
Mayor Cadwallader, RCC and participating businesses should be applauded for their efforts to reduce water wastage in our region. Imagine if this could be done on a larger scale?
Sydney Water took on the challenge of implementing large-scale water efficiency measures, with outstanding results. From the 2006 Metropolitan Water Plan: ‘Although there are now 950,000 extra people living in Sydney, we are using around the same amount of water as we were 25 years ago.’
Professor Stuart White (Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney) worked on Sydney Water’s efficiency programs. He has also worked on water efficiency proposals for our area. In 2020 he presented ‘The Rous Sustainable Water Program: Towards a secure, reliable and affordable water future’. This explains in detail how we could implement large-scale water efficiency in our region (and deliver cost savings to businesses and taxpayers) without the need to build more dams.
Congratulations on your election to RCC, and here’s to water efficiency for our region.
(Quotes from documents available on the Water Northern Rivers website: waternorthernrivers.org).
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
