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| Sustainable September 2011
> What is Sustainable September?
> Managing Our Trees
> Managing Our Water Use
> Why Waterwise?
> Free Gardenwise Seminar
> Sustainable Living Strategy
> New Sustainability Website
> Win a Bokashi Composting System
What is Sustainable September?
Sustainable September is a not-for-profit campaign celebrating environmental, social and economic sustainability in action.
The City is involved in a variety of sustainability initiatives and is a proud supporter of Sustainable September.
Managing Out Trees
The City of South Perth has long been regarded as green leafy inner city suburbs of Perth. Is this still true?
To some extent it still is true, however there has been a significant decline in tree cover on private land over the last 30 years. The reasons for this are several – higher density infill development, a lot more swimming pools, greater intolerance of leaf drop and concern about the risk of property damage from limb drop. Unfortunately, these have all contributed to the decline of the large mature tree on the suburban block within the City.
What can the City do?
The City currently has some control over trees on development sites using planning policy and legislation. The City also has a significant tree register, however that only applies to trees of the very highest quality. These controls are important, however they ultimately will not arrest the decline in tree cover.
The City does however have control over the public lands such as parks,
reserves, natural areas and streetscapes.
The City’s response therefore has been to invest heavily to increase tree cover in these areas. This is being achieved under the following framework:
- Street Tree Management Plan – initially adopted by Council in 2001
- Green Plan – adopted by Council in 2002
The purpose of these documents is to guide vegetation, particularly tree management, within the City.
The Street Tree Management Plan’s purpose is to guide the planting and
retention of trees within the road reserve. Council has requested that the
planting themes that characterised the older suburbs of the City be retained
where possible.
The purpose of the Green Plan is to promote the retention and enhancement
of biodiversity within the City. Native animals and birds need places to live, so it is very important that local trees and plants, which the animals and birds depend upon, are still prevalent in the City. As a result, and where possible, the City is planting local native species.
The City now has over 17,000 street trees, up from about 15,000 eight years ago. This is due to a concerted effort by the City to plant and replace street trees.
More recently, the City has begun to focus on its parks and reserves. The aim here is not to plant haphazardly, so park master plans are being developed and planting is therefore carefully planned and implemented.
Supporting this effort is a City-operated plant nursery. The City of South Perth is one of only a few local authorities which maintain a nursery. Specialist staff are employed to propagate and grow all sorts of plants, including the hard to grow natives. A business plan has recently been completed for the nursery to ensure that it does not run at a loss.
The City is very keen to redress the loss of tree cover and maintain the urban forest which makes the City of South Perth a preferred place to live and work.
Managing Our Water Use
What is the City of South Perth doing to reduce its water use?
The City uses scheme and groundwater for its buildings, parks, streetscapes and gardens. The Department of Water allocates the City, through a licensing process, 1,459,715 kL/yr of groundwater from the superficial and Leederville aquifers. This allocation is fully utilised by existing use, therefore the City has no room for further groundwater expansion other than to demonstrate savings through efficiency.
The City of South Perth adopted a Water Action Plan (WAP) in June 2009, representing the City’s commitment to improve water management for
both the City and its residents and ratepayers. The WAP has been driven by the City’s commitment to two programs, the International Council for Local
Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) Water Campaign™ and the State Water Strategy (2003).
The City has included seven main groundwater conservation objectives in the WAP aiming to achieve these objectives by June 2014. These are:
- To ensure the City of South Perth is operating within the allocation limits and license conditions of the groundwater extraction licenses issued under section 5C of the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914 (WA) by the Department of Water;
- To review the City’s public open space (POS) with the intention of applying watering categories to all parks and reserves, rationalise turf areas such as verges and median strips, assess the potential for saving water by ‘hydro zoning’ within parks and by improving the performance of irrigation systems;
- To optimise irrigation efficiency across the City of South Perth by improving irrigation system performance and irrigation scheduling based on budget constraints;
- Establish Comer Reserve as a park that can demonstrate best water conservation practices including hydro zoning and high performing irrigation systems;
- To develop a monitoring program for environmentally sensitive sites, which will include water quality, static bore water levels and vegetation condition;
- To develop a communication strategy that aims to educate and inform the community and stakeholders on the City’s Water Conservation Plan; and
- Incorporate water conservation practices such as applying wetting agents, reducing the mat layer and implementing best practice nitrogen management (using soil and leaf testing) into the City’s overall park maintenance program. Of these objectives, the City has achieved the following to date:
- Progressively metering all of the City’s 83 groundwater bores to be able to effectively monitor its groundwater use. This is an expensive process and is therefore being progressively rolled out as budgets permit.
- City parks have been categorised for water use to ensure the allocation is not exceeded. For example, parks utilised for active sport and the larger passive parks will receive a greater amount of water than the smaller passive parks. All new irrigation designs for parks will incorporate hydro zoning. The City is progressing this objective in the following ways:
- A more senior role has been created within the Parks Maintenance area recognising the importance of sustainable water delivery;
- The performance of irrigation systems are being improved where possible and where budget permits. All new systems are being designed using the latest practices and technology.
- Comer Reserve has been completed and has been operating for two summers. Visitors and park users during summer will notice the active playing surface receives more water than the verges and the passive area.
- The City is applying wetting agents where budgets permit. Renovation practices are being improved and fertiliser application has become more scientific
The City’s scheme water use is significant. In 1999/2000, the City had 312 water accounts and a total of 183,715 kL of scheme water was consumed
through the City’s operations. Many of these accounts were for buildings and water fountains, however many were also for watering street gardens and traffic management measures (TMM’s).
In 2010/2011 this has been reduced significantly to about 220 water accounts and about 113,000 kL of scheme water was saved.
Some of the initiatives undertaken include:
- Installation of water saving devices in all new and renovated City buildings, such as timed taps, low water yield shower heads and waterless urinals,
- Removal of 32 water meters from street gardens by using water-wise plants or alternative management techniques.
Why Waterwise?
The climate in the south west of Western Australia has been getting dryer since the mid 1970s. Now more than ever, it is important to save water. The Water Corporation advises that 71% of public water is used in the home and of that 44% is used outside. As a result, a lot of water can be saved by more efficient use outside the home, such as in the garden.
The Water Corporation has a wealth of useful information about how to make your garden and lawn waterwise on their website www.watercorporation.com.au. Look under ‘Being Waterwise’.
Spring is the time to be preparing your garden for hotter and drier weather by applying soil amendments, mulch and wetting agent. Please don’t over fertilise your lawn and garden as this will end up in the groundwater and ultimately the Swan and Canning Rivers. Find out about effective and responsible fertiliser use at www.fertilisewise.com.au.
Happy gardening!
Free GardenWise Seminar
As part of Sustainable September, join us at the Beyond Gardens Seminar from 6.30pm, Monday 26 September.
Where: South Perth Civic Centre Community Hall, corner Sandgate St and South Tce, South Perth
How much: free!
Proudly supported by the Water Corporation and the City of South Perth, the Beyond Gardens Team highlight Waterwise gardening practices that are suited to WA's unique combinations of soils and climatic conditions.
Good for beginners and experienced gardeners alike, the presenters are not sponsored by product manufacturers so workshop participants will receive unbiased advice.
The Beyond Gardens Team will highlight unsustainable gardening practices and dispel many gardening myths, replacing them with practical techniques that result in success at a fraction of the current cost and use of resources.
Topics will include:
- Environmental consequences of current gardening practices
- Local soil & nutrients – understanding and improving soils – find out how digging can be counterproductive
- Plants – how they grow & how to choose the right ones for your garden
- Garden Design – tips from the experts, including
- Verge gardens in the City of South Perth – how to design & maintain one
- Recycling for a healthier garden – the real story about composting, worm farms and the rest
- Mulching – find out which ones work and actually save water
- Irrigation – which systems are best?
- Greywater/ rainwatertanks – set it up to water your garden;
- Gardening myths and why gardening in WA is different to what is shown on TV
There will also be light refreshments at half time and prizes of plants and Verge Garden Makeovers for residents of the City of South Perth.
Register by visiting the Beyond Gardens website's Events Calendar.
City of South Perth Sustainable Living Strategy
The City is developing a Sustainable Living Strategy to assist its
community to live more sustainably.
Members of the community provide valuable input into the strategy and process.
At this stage, a draft strategy document has been developed, and a Community Fair was held in May, to demonstrate some of the themes of living sustainably. Most of the attendees at the Fair participated in a community survey which highlighted the key sustainable behaviour concerns.
If you wish to participate in the project or find out more information, please contact the City on 9474 0777.
New City Sustainability Website
The City will soon have a home for all news and activities relating to the City’s efforts toward sustainability. The website will demonstrate what programs the City is participating in, and the initiatives being developed to support the community.
Win a Bokashi Composting System
Tell us in 25 words or less, ‘why planting and maintaining trees and vegetation is so important for sustainability’. Email to your entry to enquiries@southperth.wa.gov.au by Friday 30 September 2011.
The best entry will receive five plants from the City’s nursery, and a Bokashi kitchen food waste composting system.
