Water Supply & Conservation

Conserving water and efficiently managing waste water and sewage plays an important role in reducing the environmental impacts of an event.

Providing water is a health and safety requirement to most events. Sustainable water management includes reducing water wastage, eliminating the use of chemicals, and potentially the re-use of grey water.

The main areas of impact when using and managing water are where your water is sourced, procedures to reduce the amount of water used, how much waste water is produced, and what ends up in that waste water. Transport impacts of water supply and waste water disposal are also considerations if water needs to be tankered the event and waste water and sewage tankered away.

Water used and waste water created at festivals and events can include:

CLEAR WATER: Potable drinking water.
BLUE WATER:
Clean water used for washing and irrigation (not for drinking).
GREY WATER:
Water from washing and cleaning, with no organic contamination.
BLACK WATER:
Catering sullage and sewage.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • Is every possible action taken to reduce water consumption?
  • Has chemical use been restricted and all chemicals prevent from being in waste water?
  • Is the area between land and waterways (riparian zone) protected?
  • Is all run-off or soak-aways an approved distance from waterways?
  • Are you using water free toilets and urinals?
  • Have you put operations in place to minimise transport of water and waste water to and from the event by truck/tanker?

Be Water Efficient
By reducing the amount of water used, not only is a precious resource conserved, but there is also a direct impact on greenhouse gas emissions reduction – this is through reducing the need to transport water and sewage to and from the event, and through the energy needed to produce potable water and process sewage.

Water may be supplied to the event by water tankers, by mains water, or the event may harvest water off roofs, stored in tanks for use during the event. Whichever method water conservation should be the goal.

Ways to reduce water consumption include;

  • Reduce water pressure on taps, hoses and standpipes.
  • Use low-flow/water-saving showerheads and taps.
  • Use tap fittings that have an automatic stop mechanism.
  • Use organic dust suppressant additives to reduce the amount of water used to dampen dust.
  • Rather than water supplied to each vendor, have central standpipes so water is carried to food traders.
  • Use water-free toilets, portable compost toilets & water free urinals.
  • Supply hand sanitizer which requires no water for hand-washing rather than soap or gel.
  • Use hand-held misting sprays not constantly running misting stations for cooling attendees down.
  • Reduce water consumption through ‘water wise’ grounds preparation and gardening.

Health & Safety Regulations
Safety and hygiene are paramount to any decision an event makes about water supply, management and treatment. Each  local council will have regulations on what can and can’t be done with water. The Environment Protection Agency and state-based Waterways Authority will also direct what can or must be done to ensure healthy and protective water management practices.

Behaviour Change
A great way to ensure that all users of water think about conservation and protection of waterways is to create a messaging campaign at the event.

  • Carry out water conservation messaging to the audience, participants and crew.
  • Conduct a waterways protection campaign at an outdoor event to protect the riparian zone, and reduce the impacts of urination and other emissions to waterways.

Measuring Waste Use
Put a system in place so the amount of water used and the amount waste water produced can be measured. By auditing water use, leaks and inefficiencies may be discovered and savings opportunities identified.  Consider the following;

  • Require water providers (if tankered in) to provide figures for  total water supplied to the event.
  • If using mains water, ensure accurate water meter readings are taken. Include pre-production and show days as separate readings.
  • Require the waste water and sewage transport service to provide total sewage/waste water removed from the event if tankered out.
  • If using mains sewer lines, estimate total sewage volume based on number of toilets, flush volume and likely usage rates.

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