DOUGLAS Shire Council is championing the drive to motivate the Douglas Shire to participate in the second annual Water Night this Thursday, as part of a national challenge to not use running water for 12 hours.
The call comes after new research has been released detailing the subconscious actions that see the average person running taps for 68 minutes per day – a huge 635 billion minutes per year.
Commissioned by not-for-profit Smart Approved WaterMark and conducted by YouGov, the research revealed a stark contradiction between how much we say we value water, and how we use it.
Specifically, 91% of Australians believe that it is important to monitor water usage in the home and garden, however, our actions are falling short. Only 18% of Australians reported actually being aware of how they utilise water in the home.
- Register Now – Smart Approved WaterMark (smartwatermark.org)
- Go to National Water Week (awa.asn.au) for details.
As part of Water Night, Council is calling for water consumers in the shire to get on board with this event.
During National Water Week, on Thursday, 21 October participants will spend 12 hours without using their taps, from 12pm to 12am.
High profile Australians already backing the night’s efforts include the presenters of ABC’s Gardening Australia, Costa Georgiadis, Sophie Thomson and Jane Edmanson, along with Olympic Australian Diver Sam Fricker, reality star Candice Warner and TikTokker Nat Alise.
Costa Georgiadis said his participation in Water Night was a no brainer, and he hoped to see even more Australians sign up this year in order to start exercising more mindful water usage.
“I am challenging every single local household to give Water Night a whirl,” Mr Georgiadis said.
“I guarantee once the taps in your home are out of action, you will truly see just how much you are constantly turning them on totally unnecessarily,”
In the lead up to Water Night, Costa Georgiadis will be releasing a series of tips and tricks across social media to help show locals simple ways to avoid using the tap.
CEO Smart Approved WaterMark Chris Philpot said if Australians were more conscious of when and how they reached for their taps, they would be more mindful about turning it on in the first place.
“It’s about waking up to our tap dependency, if people are truly made aware of how much they are turning on the tap, they will start cutting unnecessary use and ultimately save more,” Mr Philpot said.
“And importantly, our latest research evidenced hope for that behavioural change. In fact, it confirmed that 8 in 10 Australians would be likely to reduce their water consumption if they were made aware of easy steps to do so” he said.
To help increase education and awareness for water literacy, Smart Approved WaterMark is providing a package of free online Water Night resources to inform and inspire Australia about our most precious resource.
Sign up for Water Night at www.waternight.com.au and improve your water mindfulness.
Media Release/ Douglas Shire Council
