Water Corporation, Property Council of Australia (WA) and the City of Perth have launched a new Waterwise Office Program to help office building owners and their tenants save water.
Water Corporation Chief Executive Officer Sue Murphy launched the program at the Property Council’s Annual Commercial Property Management and Investment Conference.
“Our data shows that office buildings in the CBD, West and East Perth use more than 1.5 billion litres of water each year – that is about the same as 5,000 residential households,” Mrs Murphy said.
“It is important that specific programs are available to help our business customers save water and contribute to achieving the goal of reducing per person scheme water use in Perth to 125,000 litres per year by 2030.”
City of Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said the Waterwise Office Program was designed to help businesses improve awareness and understanding of water consumption and identify areas where savings could be made.
“This program will assist Perth commercial office buildings and properties shift towards best practice water use by addressing and reducing their water consumption,” Ms Scaffidi said.
Joe Lenzo, Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia, said the Office Waterwise Program was an excellent example of the property sector contributing directly to sustainable building outcomes through water savings.
“Building owners and tenants value equally the financial savings as well as the positive community contributions that come from water efficiency,” Mr Lenzo said.
The Waterwise Office Program is a free program that will provide resources, education, networking and recognition to owners and managers of office buildings that commit to improving water efficiency.
The program was developed following a study undertaken by Water Corporation and City of Perth, which indicated that over 30 per cent of sites in the city of Perth have water use greater than what is considered typical water use. This suggested that these sites have a number of low cost opportunities to save water.
The program is open to office owners that have a net lettable area greater than 5,000m2 and are located within the city of Perth.
