COUNCILS EXTEND WATER BANKING SCHEME TO NURSERY AND GARDEN CENTRE CUSTOMERS TO ENSURE VIABILITY OF INDUSTRY

Gosford City and Wyong Shire Councils have extended the Water Banking Scheme to include customers of nurseries and garden centres from this weekend, 11 November 2006 in a bid to help protect employment on the Central Coast.

The Councils originally set up the Scheme in September this year to ensure jobs and the long term viability of those industries directly impacted by the ongoing drought.

Under the terms of the extended Scheme, nurseries and garden centres can purchase Level 4 Water Restriction Exemption Permits from Council at a cost of $5 each. The Permits are available in batches of 20 vouchers at a cost of $100 per booklet.

This charge covers the cost of the Councils collecting water from alternative sources and transporting it to the nearest dam or water treatment plant where it is banked into the town water supply. This ensures any water used under the Water Banking Scheme has no net impact on total town water supplies.

The Exemption Permits can then be on-sold to customers of nurseries and garden centres in return for the purchase of a minimum of $50 of new plants.

The Exemption Permit entitles the customer to use 1,000 litres of town water externally over two months to water in their new plants. The Exemption Permit is valid from the date of purchase and becomes null and void after two months.

The town water can only be used by the customer to water in new plants with a bucket or watering can. If all of the 1,000 litres is not used in the two months it doesn’t carry over to another time period, neither is it transferable to another person.

Gosford City Council’s Mayor, Laurie Maher said the extension of the Water Banking Scheme will provide some welcome relief for nurseries and garden centres which have been hit hard by the Central Coast’s worst drought on record.

‘In extending the Water Banking Scheme to the customers of nurseries and garden centres we’ve tried to achieve a balance between helping these businesses remain viable and providing access to what is a limited supply of alternative water sources, he said.

‘These sources are currently outside the normal reticulation system because they’re too expensive and don’t produce enough water for us to consider using them for town water supplies.

‘That said, there is only a limited supply of this water and as such we’ve made it quite clear to the nurseries and garden centres it’s up to them to make sure their customers use this water wisely.

Nurseries and garden centres will be permitted to pass on the cost of the Exemption Permits to their customers at a maximum charge of $5 per 1,000 litres of water.

Wyong Shire Council Mayor, Bob Graham said ‘It’s up to them if they choose to provide access to this water to their customers free of charge or at a discounted price.

‘We’ve put in place a stringent administration process to make sure the customers of nurseries and garden centres have their Exemption Permit on prominent display before they start using their town water externally.

‘We’ll be relying on the nurseries, garden centres and their customers to do the right thing or risk being fined for breaching Level 4 Water Restrictions. If there is widespread abuse of the Scheme, the Councils will withdraw the Water Banking Scheme from the nurseries and garden centre industry.

‘With Level 4 water restrictions in place we have to make sure that everyone is treated equitably and if someone who has purchased an Exemption Permit under the extended Water Banking Scheme is found to be doing the wrong thing it’s only right they be fined.

‘Water restrictions apply to everyone on the Central Coast, from residents, businesses, tradespeople right through to big commercial water users. The restrictions are in place to help ensure our total dam storage levels don’t fall below 10% and to encourage all of us to use less town water every day during the ongoing drought,’ Bob Graham said.

The extended Water Banking Scheme for nursery and garden centre customers comes into force on Saturday, 11 September 2006. Exemption Permits for purchase by nurseries and garden centres are available now from Councils’ Customers Service Centres.

Information sheets on how the extended Scheme works are also available from the Customer Service Centres or downloaded from the Councils’ and the Joint Water Authority’s web site.

For more information on the Water Banking Scheme call Gosford City Council on 02 4325 8222 or Wyong Shire Council on 02 4350 5555.

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10 November 2006

Media Contacts:            Janet Saunders -     02 4304 7075 or 0438 191 328) (Gosford)

                                      Hayley Cambourn – 02 4350 5215 (Wyong)