Tweed Shire Council is challenging residents to sign up for next month’s national Water Night and spend a night without using their taps.
Scheduled for 20 October during national Water Week, Water Night encourages people to realise how often they reach for the tap.
Mayor of Tweed Shire, Chris Cherry said the challenge was to stop using running water from 5 to 10pm on the night and instead use pre-filled water bottles and kettles for household needs.
The use of running water for health and hygiene reasons is still permitted.
“Try not to underestimate the challenge – most of us are on auto-pilot when it comes to using water,” Mayor Cherry said.
“Yet we live on the world’s driest continent and our fresh water supply is limited. The next drought won’t be far away and we must always do everything we can to make our water supply last as long as possible.
“That’s why it’s important for everyone in the Tweed to use less than 160 litres a day, even when there are no water restrictions.
“We’ve done a good job in recent weeks at keeping around the 160-litre target, but our use is starting to climb up as the temperature warms.
“We are all caretakers of our natural environment and we share a responsibility to reduce our environmental impact. A key way we can do that is by saving water,” she said.
Water Night is sponsored by Council and run nationally by The Water Conservancy.
The event was created after research conducted by the organisation showed only 42% of Australians consider tap water to be precious.
Sign up for Water Night by heading to waternight.com.au.
