The ICLEI Water Campaign

Water is recognised as a vital, yet increasingly scarce resource.  Water is a major feature not only of our natural environment, in terms of our estuaries, rivers and wetlands but also of our culture and our economy.  As such, the management of water related issues is fundamentally important to our community as a whole.  Many local governments also recognise that, as large consumers of water, they also have a responsibility to show leadership by providing for the needs of the community in a sustainable and efficient manner.

The City of Mandurah has embraced this challenge and in 2002 formalised this commitment by joining the ICLEI Water Campaign™ in partnership with the Peel-Harvey Catchment Council (Inc.) and four other Local governments of the Peel Region.  In doing so, this group of councils were the first in WA to participate in this innovative program.

The Peel-Harvey Water Campaign™ project, of which the City of Mandurah was instrumental in its inception, has now been expanded to include nine Local governments of the Peel-Harvey Catchment.

The Water Campaign is an international freshwater management campaign that focuses specifically on Local Governments’ role in water resource issues. Ultimately, the campaign aims to achieve a greater efficiency of water use and an improvement in water quality through the development of a strategic local action plan.  The Water Campaign™ also provides a single banner project through which all water related initiatives undertaken by the City of Mandurah can be promoted to the community to provide an overall consistent context.

The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives

• The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives is an international association of local governments implementing sustainable development.
• The Water Campaign™ is a global Campaign of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), which focuses on the sustainable use of our freshwater resources.  The Water Campaign™ provides a performance based approach and builds the capacity of Local Government to respond to water consumption and water quality issues influenced by local governments.

A comprehensive background of ICLEI and information on their membership and campaigns can be found at www.iclei.org.

The Water Campaign's Goals

• To improve efficiency of water use and water quality within the City of Mandurah and the wider Peel-Harvey Catchment.
• To create a holistic and integrated water strategy (Local Action Plan) for the region.
• To integrate and complement other water initiatives within the catchment and statewide.

Other Organisations and Agencies Involved

• The Peel-Harvey Catchment Council
• The Peel Development Commission
• The Water Corporation
• Departmentof Environment
• WALGA
• The Government of Western Australia

Framework (How does the Water Campaign work?)

The format for the Water Campaign™ is based on the model used for the highly successful Cities for Climate Protection Campaign™, another ICLEI Campaign in which the City of Mandurah has been participating since January 2000.

The framework consists of three Modules:

• Corporate:
  The Corporate Module focuses specifically on water consumption and quality issues within the Local Government’s own corporate activities (including parks and gardens and all Council buildings and facilities).
• Community
  The Community Module considers water consumption and quality issues throughout the wider community including residents and industrial and commercial operations.
  
  The Water Campaign™ focuses on the ways in which local governments can influence and educate the wider community to achieve a greater efficiency of water use and improvements in water quality.
• Catchment:
  The PHCC is the first organisation in Australia to implement the Water Campaign™ on a ‘whole-of-catchment’ basis. As the ‘pilot council’ we will be assisting ICLEI to develop the Catchment Module.

Each module progresses through five milestones.

• Milestone One: Inventory of water consumption and water quality issues.
• Milestone Two: Establishing targets for water quantity and water quality improvements.
• Milestone Three: The development and endorsement by Council of a Local Action Plan.
• Milestone Four: Implementation and quantification.
• Milestone Five: Monitoring, reporting and evaluation.

Current Status of the Water Campaign

In June 2005, the Mandurah City Council endorsed the City of Mandurah Water Campaign™ Corporate and Community Local Action Plan to achieve Corporate and Community Milestone 3.

This Local Action Plan outlines the actions the City has committed to undertake to address the priorities and achieve the goals set in earlier stages of the campaign.  The Local Action Plan will continue to be a living document and regularly updated and amended as required.

The next stage of the campaign, Milestone Four involves implementing the action outlined in the Local Action Plan and quantifying the results.

A copy of the City of Mandurah Water Campaign Local Action Plan can be downloaded here.

For further information or if you want to contribute to the City of Mandurah's Water Campaign please contact:

Sarah Molloy
Water Campaign Officer
Phone: (08) 9550 3244
Email: sarah-mo@mandurah.wa.gov.au
Post: P.O. Box 210 Mandurah WA 6210

_{Disclaimer: The views expressed in this website/presentation are not necessarily the views of ICLEI, or other Water Campaign Participant Councils and they do not accept responsibility in respect to any information or advice given in relation to or as a consequence of anything contained therein.}