Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At St Augustine’s School in Rivervale in my electorate of Swan last Friday, they held a community water grant recognition ceremony, which I attended. St Augustine’s School had received a community water grant to the value of $49,986, which was used to save water by installing tanks and efficient taps, toilets and urinals. The harvested rainwater will be used to irrigate gardens and grass playing surfaces. The project is projected to save 201,810 litres of water per year.

I would like to thank the principal, Art Lombardi, for inviting me and commend the school for taking the time to think about water and apply for the grant. This grant is particularly timely given that the Western Australian government has just concluded a two-month winter sprinkler ban, which saved 50 million litres of water a day or 22 Olympic sized swimming pools. We are getting smarter about water conservation in Western Australia. The community water grants were of course a scheme provided by the previous government, and I note that the scheme has been discontinued as part of the transition to Caring for our Country—the scheme which has already stripped $2 million from Perth NRM’s budget.

Grants were available for water-saving and efficiency, water recycling, and water treatment—improving surface and groundwater health. St Augustine’s funding was just the latest in a long line of projects funded under this scheme. Back in round 1, Lynwood Senior High School received $31,000 to install constant-flow valves on taps, to seal leaks and to adjust urinal flush volumes. In addition to this, the school will trial a waterless urinal. These changes have saved 658,050 litres of water each year. Lathlain Primary School received $45,000 to introduce a more efficient subsurface system allowing night watering and thereby reducing the rate of water lost through evaporation. The project saved 500,000 litres of water last year. South Kensington School received $22,000 to implement a range of water-saving initiatives in the school’s bathrooms to save 383,000 litres of water each year. Wesley College received two grants of approximately $40,000 and Carlisle Primary School a grant of $4,650 for similar purposes.

I will take a moment to make special mention of Carlisle Primary School Principal Margaret Jansen, who is suffering from an illness at the moment. Margaret is terminally ill. She has done a fantastic job with her school. I recognise the fantastic work she has done and wish her all the best. I have had a close relationship with Carlisle Primary School and the people there, and Margaret in particular. I was pleased that she invited me to the anti-bullying launch at the school earlier this year. My thoughts go out to her and her family at this time.

Round 2 of the Community Water Grants closed in August 2006. It was highly competitive, with 4,532 applications submitted across Australia. Kent Street Senior High School received approximately $45,000 for water-saving devices in the school bathrooms. I commend the program that the schools have initiated and applaud them for taking part in it.