Business garden & outdoor water saving tips

Irrigation can account for up to 20% of your site’s water use. Optimising irrigation settings, understanding where water is being used and choosing waterwise plants are simple and efficient ways to reduce water use.

View our Landscape and irrigation manual for more information on water efficient irrigation and landscaping management practices.

Waterwise landscaping

Get your garden looking great while using less water with these handy tips:

• Choose waterwise plants – they are perfectly adapted to our climate, use less water and are much easier to maintain.
• Improve your soil – mix a soil improver with a wetting agent with the top 30cm of soil when planting. For an established garden, apply from the top.
• Mulch - apply 5-10cm of chunky, coarse mulch to garden beds.
• Hydrozone your plants – group plants with similar watering needs, so that you can set your irrigation system to water each zone according to the needs of the plants in it.

Watering and irrigation systems

• Invest in an automatic irrigation controller – you can program it to switch irrigation valves (stations) on and off at specific times, making watering your landscaping easy
• Don’t overwater – check the recommended watering times for your sprinkler type
• Know your watering days and stick to the rules
• Only water once on your rostered watering day, between 6pm and 9am
• Watering before 9am is the best practice – water soaks into the roots and is available throughout the day.

Maintaining your irrigation system

• Keep an instruction manual near the controller for quick reference and fault finding
• Replace worn nozzles, broken seals and leaking pipes and solenoid values with high quality fixtures
• Regularly replace back up batteries, as power outages can affect what you have programmed - a malfunctioning irrigation controller is not an excuse for not complying with your allocated watering days or times

Ensure your system is tested regularly by your onsite maintenance staff or irrigation service provider. Key maintenance items include:

Our watering rosters apply to all businesses using scheme water. No matter what time of year or where you are located in WA, be sure to stick to your watering days.

You risk a $100 fine by watering during the day and/or breaching your watering roster.

Need an exemption?

We appreciate that there may be circumstances when you need to water outside your roster.

Exemptions may be available for:

• establishing a new lawn or garden
• public institutions and sporting bodies who can demonstrate the need to change their watering days and have considered all other water options
• managing an existing community garden or planning to establish a new one

Caravan & camping sites

A standard drink of 10mm can be applied to a caravan or camping ground site immediately after it has been vacated, without an exemption. Please call us on 13 10 39 to apply.

You can significantly reduce water use by optimising your backwash activities and installing an efficient filtration system.

While some water loss is unavoidable through splash-out, overflow and evaporation, monitoring how much water you are topping up will help detect leaks and higher than usual water use.

You can do this by reading your meter daily and recording your water use. Consider installing sub-meters on your balance tanks for easy access to daily water use data.

Reduce water loss through backwashing

Backwashing accounts for up to 40% of total water use in aquatic centres. Ensuring it’s operating efficiently can result in significant savings.

For convenience, most filters are backwashed to a schedule and for a set time, which could be using more water than necessary.

To minimise water loss, backwash the filter only when the pressure drop across the filter exceeds the manufacturer’s recommended limit. To achieve further savings, install a sight glass in the discharge line and stop backwashing as soon as the backwash water becomes clear. Your plumber or service provider can assist you with the installation of a site glass.

Minimising unnecessary backwashing will also reduce your wastewater discharge, energy and pool chemical costs.

Install a water efficient filtration system

Inefficient filtration systems use up to 90% more water than efficient models. When choosing a filter look for models that use between 10 and 50 litres of water per cycle. Speak to your service provider or a pool specialist for specific advice about your pool.

Reduce evaporation by up to 50% with a pool cover

A pool cover will also help you save money on energy and pool chemical costs, and slow down deterioration of your pool or spa*.

When choosing a pool cover, look for the Waterwise and Smart Approved WaterMark symbols. All Waterwise products have been endorsed by Water Corporation, with support from Smart Approved WaterMark - Australia's water conservation label.

*Source: Best practice guidelines for water management in aquatic leisure centres, Sydney Water.

You can also reduce evaporation simply by reducing water temperature just a few degrees without affecting customer comfort.

A leaking water storage tank can cause reduced water pressure or no water. To prevent this remember to regularly check it for leaks.

Making sure it’s in good working order will prevent high water bills and repair costs associated with water leaks.

Appoint an on-site maintenance person to carry out daily visual checks, looking for:

• Leaks
• Pooling water
• Rust spots
• Worn seals

Other things to consider

If your tanks are fitted with float valves be sure to inspect them regularly. A faulty float valve can cause your tank to fill continuously, with excess water running straight to waste.

Consider installing a sub meter on your storage tanks and monitor water use through daily meter readings. Investigate unexplained increases in water use straight away; as it could indicate a leak. Your plumber will be able to advise you on whether sub-metering is suitable for your water storage tanks.

We offer practical advice to help your business save water.  Our free online water efficiency training modules include:

• Water efficient landscaping and irrigation
• Water auditing for non-residential facilities
• Cooling tower water efficiency