An innovative water saving program in Coffs Harbour has delivered some eyebrow-raising results – showing the power of children to influence their family.
‘The Big Splash Water Saving Challenge’ was driven by the City of Coffs Harbour, kicking off last August as part of a three-month educational campaign around a resource that is fundamental to life.
The project saw the City provide hundreds of sand timers to local youngsters to use in their shower at home.
The primary school children and their family were challenged to ‘Beat the timer’ by keeping a shower to less than four minutes.
“Like the proverbial ducks to water, the kids embraced the fun nature of this conservation challenge,” City of Coffs Harbour Mayor Nikki Williams said.
“The post-trial report shows many families were able to make little changes which landed with a big result.”
242 families participated in the challenge, and of those who consented for their water use to be evaluated:
“These results point to the effectiveness of the campaign. It’s hoped the changes many have made to their water use will become embedded as permanent behaviours,” City Infrastructure Acting Director Daniel Noble said.
“Many don’t realise that even with a water-efficient shower head, the equivalent of a bucket of water is used every minute – so it quickly adds up for people who spend 10 minutes in the shower.
“Thumbs up to the kids who helped drive change for their family.”
All of the children who signed up for the Big Splash Challenge received a fortnightly newsletter and a water efficiency checklist to stick to a fridge.
The cherry on the top was free entry to a pool party at the Coffs Harbour War Memorial Olympic Pool in November.
The City actively supports National Water Week which inspires individuals, communities, and organisations to build awareness around the value of water.
Access to clean water is hugely important to our daily lives, and it’s down to all of us to protect our water environments and resources and use water wisely.