Orange City Council is encouraging residents to consider joining in with a new national water-use awareness campaign.
Based on the long-running ‘Earth Hour’ campaign, which encourages communities not to use non-essential electricity for an hour, the ‘Water Night‘ campaign urges people not to turn on their water taps for 12 hours on Thursday 22 October.
Water Night is being organised by not-for-profit water efficiency specialists, Smart Approved WaterMark to recognise National Water Week, which will be held from October 19-25.
Organised by the Australian Water Association, National Water Week urges all of us to protect our water resources and use water wisely. The theme for 2020 is Reimagining our Water Future.
Water Night encourages participants not to use running water from 5pm to 5am in a bid to make people aware of how often they reach for their taps.
Instead of tap water, residents are asked to explore how they could manage with one bucket for the night, for everything but handwashing and flushing. Residents could fill water bottles for drinking and put them in the fridge before the event. The use of water for COVID-safe and religious reasons is exempt.
Orange Mayor Reg Kidd said saving water was second nature to Orange’s residents after the recent drought and the tough Level 5 restrictions.
“The city’s water storage was down to 21.14 per cent as recently as February 14 and our residents were fantastic at cutting back their water use,” he said.
“But, just because our total water storage is over 60 per cent now doesn’t mean we can lose sight of the importance of making every drop count.
“While an event like this won’t save a lot of water, it’s a chance to be mindful of the way we use water and educate ourselves about using water wisely.”
Orange City Council’s Environmental Sustainability Committee chair Cr Stephen Nugent said this was a great opportunity to increase awareness amongst families of water wastage.
“Challenging residents to see if they can go without running water for one night will help them to recognise when they reach for the tap, often without giving it a second thought,” Cr Nugent said.
“Parents could use the night to teach their children to value the water that comes out of the tap and show them how to be water efficient from a young age.”
People wishing to participate in Water Night can register at www.waternight.com.au.
