Introduction

The City of Mitcham is committed to providing ‘A safe, healthy, tolerant and prosperous community, living and working in harmony with the environment. As outlined in the City of Mitcham Strategic Plan 2008-2012, the City of Mitcham aims to ensure the natural and built environments are protected, enhanced and to conserve resources, prevent waste and support community and economic activities. Its commitment to intelligent water management and will endeavour to undertake the following strategies:

• Integrated Stormwater Management: Renew, maintain and upgrade stormwater infrastructure to protect the community, enhance the natural environment and conserve water resources
• Water and Energy Conservation: Advocate for and undertake water and energy reduction initiatives
• Alternative Water and Energy Supplies: Promote the use of alternative energy supplies and encourage best practice in water management and reuse

Current Activities

The City of Mitcham has modified and dramatically reduced its mains water use including:

• Responding to drought conditions and South Australian water restrictions in the irrigation of open space.
• Progressively retrofitting community buildings for water efficiency, including the installation of tap timers, low flow taps and shower heads and dual flush or waterless toilets.
• Developing small scale domestic aquifer storage and recovery systems at the Council Depot, Bailey Reserve and Mortlock Park, which are estimated to return 1,092 kilolitres of groundwater to aquifers every year.
• Installing rainwater tanks to meet indoor water requirements at the Civic Centre, Blackwood Recreation Centre, Hawthorn Oval, Mortlock Park and  Bailey Reserve, which are estimated to save more than 2,060 kilolitres of mains water every year.
• Ongoing investigations into the potential to treat and harvest stormwater from the Urrbrae Wetlands using aquifer storage and recovery Water efficiency and rainwater reuse by residents is also encouraged.
• Adopted the Irrigation Public Open Space (IPOS) Code of Practice and in response has audited the efficiency of irrigation systems and undertaken critical assessments of the extent of turf and irrigation requirements.  This has resulted in improved monitoring (monthly) of water use.  The evaluation of open space areas and streetscapes for water sensitive urban design opportunities is ongoing, and has focused on the landscape component and water capture and reuse in street areas.

The City of Mitcham has delivered a series of educational and incentive programs including the rainwater reuse rebate project (now delivered by SA Water), community information sessions and incentives for installation of water efficient products such as low flow showerheads. .

The City of Mitcham has also trialled a sustainable home rating and incentive scheme which encouraged, amongst other things, water sensitive home design.

Gross pollution traps (GPTs), at the Urrbrae Wetland and detention swales at Frank Smith Park and Sturt Gorge are continuing to remove large volumes, around 80 tonnes, of organic and other pollutants from our waterways every year. This material would otherwise decay and use up valuable oxygen in our waterways, causing toxic conditions for aquatic insects and fish.

Council remained active in the field of stormwater pollution prevention through the Clean Sites Program in partnership with KESAB.

Planned Activities

The City of Mitcham is currently developing and will implement a Council Wide Environmental Management Systems (EMS) which will identify, monitor and managed water use and re-use options in all Council operations.  

The City of Mitcham will continue to identify options to minimise its dependency on mains water:

• through the successive retrofitting of rainwater tanks on all Council buildings. 
• continued investigations in identifying  opportunities for stormwater capture, and reuse and aquifer storage and recovery for rainwater collection.