Water Sustainability Awards

The inaugural Tamworth Regional Council Water Sustainability Awards are an opportunity to celebrate and promote the great work being done within our community to conserve water now, and into the future, as well as encourage others to follow suit. They provide an opportunity for our regions business owners and operators to come together and take some respite from what is a challenging time at no cost. 

Congratulations to the following 2020 Tamworth Regional Council Water Sustainability Awards finalists and winners: 

·         Excellence in Water Efficiency supported by Smart Approved WaterMark

o   Finalists

§  Boral

§  Holcim

§  Tamworth City Bowling Club

§  Austin Tourist Park

§  Powerhouse Hotel

o   Winner – Holcim

§  Holcim have made significant changes to various parts of their work site which have resulted in big water savings.

·         Commitment to Water Sustainability supported by Hunter H2O

o   Finalists

§  Central Dry Cleaners

§  Tamworth Wizard Carwash

§  Tamworth City Toyota

o   Winner – Tamworth Wizard Carwash

§  Despite increased use of the carwash during Level 4 and 5 water restrictions in Tamworth, Moonbi and Kootingal, Tamworth Wizard Carwash has been able to implement changes that have seen a minimal increase in overall water consumption.

·         Adaption to Change supported by Tamworth Regional Council

o   Winner – Quest Apartments

§  Quest have been able to implement a number of changes which has reduced their water consumption by 50%.

·         Innovation in Water Sustainability supported by GHD

o   Finalists

§  Waterless Carwash

§  Dynamic Fire

§  McCarthy College

§  Tamworth Rural Referral Hospital

o   Winner – Tamworth Rural Referral Hospital

§  The Tamworth Rural Referral Hospital has invested $15,000 into a system that collects 50,000 litres of clean water, which is a by-product of the renal dialysis water filtration process, and uses it to flush 44 toilets in the outpatient centre. This initiative will save 2.5 million litres of water per year.

·         Creative Water Sustainability (High School) supported by NBN News, prize sponsor WaterNSW

o   Finalists

§  Breanna Rhodes (Calrossy Anglican School)

§  McCarthy Catholic College Environmental Council

o   Winner – Breanna Rhodes (Calrossy Anglican School)

§  Breanna’s piece gave 12 practical ways to conserve water and be more sustainable in a succinct yet creative format.

·         Creative Water Sustainability (Primary School) supported by 92.9FM, prize sponsor WaterNSW

o   Finalists

§  Brandee Young (Nemingha Public School)

§  Tegan Rhodes (Tamworth Public School)

o   Winner – Brandee Young (Nemingha Public School)

§  Brandee’s simple, yet attention-grabbing message through art. The judges also loved that Brandee got creative by cutting some of her horse's tail to use as hair and adding google eyes. Ian's (Tamworth Regional Council’s Water Sustainability Officer) visit clearly impacted her and she has taken to heart the message of water conservation and her piece shows that it is not just adults who need to be taking this seriously, but kids have a part to play too.

The awards have the following six categories:

Excellence in Water Efficiency

Awarded to a large water user (3.5ML/year and above) who has demonstrated dedication to reducing their businesses water consumption.
This category is judged on the 52 large water users’ audits that were issued by Council and conducted by an independent auditor.

Commitment to Water Sustainability

Awarded to a small to medium water user (less than 3.5 Megalitres per annum) that can demonstrate their businesses long term commitment to water conservation.

Adapting to Change

Awarded to the business which has the highest reduction in water consumption since the introduction of water restrictions on 7 January 2019.

Innovation in Water Sustainability

Awarded to a business demonstrating an innovative approach to water reduction. This can be a single or multiple innovations within the business over any period of time.

Creative Water Sustainability (High School)

Awarded to student or a class group from a high school located in the Tamworth Regional Council area for their creative piece regarding water conservation theme.
Finalists would be invited to show their entries to the audience and prepare a short talk to introduce their entry.

Creative Water Sustainability (Primary School)

Awarded to student or a class group from a primary school located in the Tamworth Regional Council area for their creative piece regarding water conservation theme.
Finalists would be invited to show their entries to the audience and prepare a short talk to introduce their entry.

The Tamworth Regional Council Water Sustainability Awards are proudly supported by

	GHD is one of the world’s leading professional services companies operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Privately owned by its people, GHD delivers engineering, architecture, environmental, advisory, digital and construction services to public and private sector clients across five continents and the Pacific region. Committed to creating lasting community benefit, GHD connects the knowledge, skill and experience of its 10000 diverse people with innovative practices, technical capabilities and robust systems.
	Truly unique within the water industry, Hunter H2O has proven itself to be one of the largest specialist consulting firms in the Australia-Pacific water industry. Our 100% privately-owned company operates within regional and metropolitan Australia-Pacific and employs 100 water industry specialists based in its centres of excellence in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.
	Like the air we breathe and the eyes we view our world through, water is largely invisible. We barely remember using it, drinking it, flushing with it or even turning a tap. Yet if it didn’t appear we’d be appalled. Australians are up among the highest water users despite many not consciously using it. The team at Smart Approved WaterMark; - Certify products for the Smart Approved WaterMark label to ensure the most water efficient are easy accessible for consumers - Provide tools to utilities, councils and businesses to share water saving advice with their customers in with subscription to Smart Water Advice - Offer businesses Smart Water Audits to keep their water bills and use to the minimum…and more We are the one stop shop for water efficiency and we believe in a blue future.
	NBN’s market now stretches from Central Coast in the south to the Gold Coast, Queensland in the north and west to Moree and Narrabri. This market has a population of more than 1.9 million people, and is the fourth largest television market in Australia, behind Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. NBN Television is an independent affiliate of the Nine Network, and the combination of its own locally produced programs, including the region’s number one news service, with the Nine Network’s strong line-up of Australian and international programs, has seen the NBN Group consistently achieve the highest ratings for any station in a major television market across Australia.
	92.9FM has been on air in Tamworth since 1993 and is now the most listened to radio station in the Northwest and is proud to be Tamworths' only commercial radio station. Free to-air commercial radio remains one of the best ways to reach audiences and to stay in touch. We work closely with local businesses to help them reach an audience of over 70,000 listeners, by offering customised radio adverts, live reads and outside broadcasts. Radio is affordable and vital for any business in any industry. Radio is in the home, in the car, and in the workplace. 92.9FM covers a large area, not only servicing Tamworth, but also smaller surrounding towns such as Manila, Barraba, Quirindi and Werris Creek.Our vibrant, talented presenters are on air and local every day bringing audiences popular segments and fun competitions.Each radio segment between 6am and 5pm Monday-Friday is locally produced and hosted to ensure that our listeners hear the topics that matter to them and the BEST music.Our regional news is produced and recorded locally by our news team to ensure that our listeners are kept up to date with what is happening in the region.From marketing, to sales, to production and all things in between, 92.9FM prides itself in boasting a talented team of local employees that bring you Tamworths’ NUMBER ONE radio station!
	WaterNSW is committed to delivering for all our customers and communities. We are responsible for source water protection, bulk water supply, system operations, infrastructure and customer water transactions. WaterNSW is supporting communities through drought by providing timely asset solutions to extend vital water supplies. We are also forward planning for the next drought to ensure greater resilience within the system. We are doing this by implementing our longer-term asset strategy, including significant infrastructure projects. Since children really are our future, we are proud to sponsor the Water Sustainability Awards for Creative Water Sustainability (Primary & High School).