Shire Receives Highest Accolade

Published on Wednesday, 2 December 2020 at 10:46:10 AM

Wongan Hills Tidy Towns won the award in the Environmental Sustainability category at the recent Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Towns 2020 State Awards.  Of the projects showcased in their submission, the Shire's Mocardy Dam pipeline project secured first place.  Held at Optus Stadium on Friday 27 November, the awards evening was an opportunity to celebrate the outstanding work of 40 WA Regional towns across 8 categories.   

In a collaborative effort between Wongan Hills Tidy Towns and the Shire of Wongan-Ballidu, the significant projects delivered by the Shire and its community over the past year were presented to a judging panel.   In accessing all submissions that had made it to the final round, the judges paid a personal visit to the Shire earlier this year to take a closer look at the outstanding work done by the Shire and community.  In addition to the Mocardy Dam project, the following  projects were also showcased:-

• The Community Garden and The Community Shelf (both nominated as finalists in the Community Action and Wellbeing Category)
• The Energy Trading Scheme - an innovative use of solar technology
• Wongan-Ballidu's Bushcare Group's revegetation projects at Reynoldson Reserve and roadside verges in addition to its promotional wildflower displays 

The Mocardy Dam project was designed as an innovative gravity and trickle-feed system to tap water from the Shire leased Mocardy Dam into storage tanks and other town water reserves.  Water is pumped directly from Mocardy Dam to storage tanks located at the nearby Wongan Hills Airport.  From this point, two outlets feed water to the townsite’s Railway Dam and to two storage tanks located at  Wongan Hills District High School.  The water feeding into Railway Dam supplements the town’s non-potable water requirements and the Wongan Hills District High School tanks store water fed from the Airport Storage tanks in addition to collecting stormwater.  The school utilises this non-potable water for ablution facilities and for irrigating sports fields, effectively providing a reliable water supply at a significantly lower  cost. This sustainable source of water from Mocardy Dam also means the Shire is less reliant on scheme water for non-potable uses.  The project also ensures a reliable water supply to safeguard the area against bush fires with firefighting infrastructure located at the Wongan Hills Airport storage tanks.  The Shire’s total water collection and storage capacity has increased by 33 million litres from this project.

The project is the culmination of a long term vision spanning 20 years.  Driving the project, Council demonstrated determination in receiving a $522,972 grant from Watering WA Towns from the State Government who commended the project as strategically important in securing the sustainability of non-potable water sources for the townsite.  Together with $118,854 from the Shire, other financial contributors included the Education Department of WA $100,000 and the Wongan Hills District High School $5,600.  On receiving this significant award, Shire Chief Executive Officer Stuart Taylor, congratulated everyone involved in the project.  "This award demonstrates that when the Shire and its community work together on making Wongan-Ballidu a wonderful place to live, we can achieve great things."    "Tidy Towns Wongan Hills do amazing work in our Shire, and the fact that the group is made up entirely of volunteers who give so generously of their time and resources, they really deserve a big thank you" he added.

As a finalist in two of the eight categories, Bruce Mitchell - President of Tidy Towns Wongan Hills also congratulated all fellow Tidy Towns members for their achievements.  

To read the official WA Government media release announcing all Tidy Towns 2020 finalists and winners click here.

Visit the Mocardy Dam Project Pipeline information page for further details about the project.

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