As one of Australia’s fastest growing municipalities, the City of Casey in southeast Melbourne has set it sights on becoming a leader in groundbreaking environmental, energy and water initiatives. Council is currently constructing a $37 million aquatic and leisure centre, which it believes will be the best in Australia. The Water Smart Cranbourne Aquatic and Leisure Centre is the most ambitious project undertaken by the Council to date and will feature innovative, environmentally sustainable initiatives as part of its design.
City of Casey Mayor, Councillor Colin Butler, said the groundbreaking centre will set the standard for facilities of its kind across Victoria and Australia.
“It will be a legacy of the innovative planning and proactive approach taken by Council for key infrastructure opportunities across the local area,” he said. “A unique feature will be the use of collected rainwater, bore water and recycled water for facilities, eliminating the use of potable water and saving approximately 26 million litres of drinking water a year. I am delighted that construction has begun and we thank the Victorian Government for its contribution of $2.5 million towards the project.”
The annual water savings will be reached through a number of innovative features. These include harvesting rainwater from the roofs of the Cranbourne Aquatic and Leisure Centre and the existing adjacent basketball stadium and library, which together have a total roof area of 28,000 square metres. The rainwater will then be stored in a two million litre tank, filtered and disinfected for use in topping up the pools, cleaning backwash pool filters, toilet flushing, showers and landscape watering. In addition, 75 per cent of the water used in cleaning pool filters will be collected and stored, filtered and disinfected for reuse. This is expected to save an estimated ten million litres of water a year.
Bore water from State Government water retailer, South East Water’s, site is also available as a contingency for testing and filling the pools. Other environmentally sustainable features include building orientation to the north to maximise natural lighting, double glazing and solar heating.
Construction is scheduled for completion by mid 2009.
For further information contact Katie Vassiliou at the City of Casey on (03) 9705 5109.
