By Kirsty Ross
WYNDHAM City Council has saved its sports grounds, thanks to the water authority’s thumbs up to allow watering despite stage two restrictions.
Mayor Shane Bourke said this would allow sports clubs to function and sporting activities to continue during the restriction period.
“Council’s sporting reserves are already deteriorating under the water restrictions, and if current watering practises continued, it is likely that the reserves would be in too poor a condition to accommodate the summer sporting season,” Cr Bourke said.
The news comes after the Western Region Football League (WRFL) announced that it was preparing to revise its competition schedule next year, anticipating the effects on its grounds of the hot dry summer ahead.
The council devised a water conservation plan outlining how it would reduce water consumption by 25 per cent, while still irrigating sporting fields within its area.
The plan was lodged with City West Water last month in an attempt to be granted the exemption.
Cr Bourke said all the local sporting ground irrigation systems were linked to rain radar and weather stations.
This allowed the system to calculate irrigation needs for each reserve, and reduce water usage.
By maintaining a controlled watering program at sporting ovals, the council will reduce other costs needed to repair ruined turf and other losses if sporting activities were to stop.
“Sporting clubs and sporting activities are a vital part of any community, and the current exemption will allow these activities to cont-inue throughout summer,” Cr Bourke said.
In the meantime, the council is working on a water plan, should restrictions escalate.
It will also use recycled water thanks to an agreement with City West Water.
The agreement will allow it to irrigate some sporting fields and reserves in areas where recycled water will be reticulated.
The recycled water to be used is classified Class A by the Department of Human Services and its use for the irrigation of sporting fields and reserves is supported by EPA Victoria.
The first recycled water pipeline for council use – the Hoppers Crossing pipeline – will be operational in early 2007.
