Australian State Offering Water Project Grants

Businesses, local councils and community groups across Victoria, Australia, will share in $10 million in grants from the state government for new storm water and recycled water projects.

Water Minister Tim Holding has launched the $6-million first round of the grants program, which will target large water users to help save billions of liters of drinking water. "Storm water and recycled water are valuable resources which help reduce demand on our drinking water supplies," Holding said. "The Stormwater and Urban Recycling Fund will provide funding for large-scale and smaller projects where drinking-quality water is not needed."

The first round of the fund is open to all nonresidential water customers that use more than 10 million liters per year. Another round of funding will be available for businesses, community groups and sporting clubs for smaller, localized projects.

Industries and local governments are working hard to reduce their use of drinking water, and this fund will support their initiatives for more sustainable water use, according to Holding. "We will provide up to $1 million in funding, matching a company or council's investment dollar for dollar," he said. "The amount of funding for projects will be influenced by the volume of drinking water that can be saved from the project."

The fund builds on the government's earlier initiative, the Stormwater and Urban Conservation Fund, which has funded 66 projects since 2004 and is saving more than 2 billion liters of drinking water each year.

Businesses and local councils have until April 24 to register an expression of interest for the Stormwater and Urban Water Recycling Fund. For more information, visit www.dse.vic.gov.au.

Source: Media-Newswire