WestWyck - Water Efficiency

Roy Ames of Aquaclarus
commissioning the greywater system

We live in a society that is becoming increasingly aware of the scarcity of its precious water resources. We daily hear the mantra of Australia being the world's driest continent. We live with diminishing artesian water supplies, dying rivers and water restrictions in our cities. We watch nervously as financiers move to profit from water trading and in Victoria we sailed dangerously close to witnessing the privatisation of our water supplies.

We all know that we can no longer use water profligately. We know that we need courageous political leadership at a local, state and national level. We also urgently need good examples of best practice private use of water domestically and industrially.

Water sensitive urban design is developing rapidly and WestWyck aims to be putting together one of the country's most comprehensive packages to achieve water efficiency.

The WestWyck Water Cycle

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There are many dimensions to WestWyck's water efficiency package ranging through from use of efficient appliances to harvesting of roof water and several instances of water re-use.

The attractively planted reedbed
on the left of this picture is part of a system
of swale drains that slow releases any excess site
and stormwater into the public stormwater system.
The eleven thousand litre galvanised iron
rainwater tank is sited at the end of the path.

In its life as a school, the WestWyck property, with its expanses of roof and hard surfacing of bitumen and concrete, shed large quantities of storm water into the surrounding storm water system in the event of heavy rain storms.

One of the first water sensitive changes on the site was the removal of the hard surfaces to allow water to permeate. Most of the WestWyck grounds now have porous surfaces which hold water rather than shed it. Loads of asphalt and concrete were taken off site to recycling centres to achieve this result.

At WestWyck the five newly constructed townhouses have 5,000 litre 'bagel' style under-deck collection tanks. Two large 11,000 litre galvanised iron tanks that collect the rainwater from the main school building are integral to the landscape design and are strategically placed to make an impressive statement about water. These tanks are part of a pressurised system that feeds water into the solar hot water system of the former school building.

Specially constructed concrete reed beds or swale drains that run adjacent to the school building collect tank overflow as well as any surface stormwater. The swale drains are connected to a further system of planted beds that eventually release excess water (in a heavy downpour event) into the street stormwater system. This system of swale drains means that what was once a surge discharge of stormwater to the street from the school's hard surfaces has been reduced to a delayed release as the water passes through and services a landscaped environment. These attractive landscaped swale drains retain water and are designed to provide protection to the foundations of the building. A list of plants used in the swale drains is available on our Landscaping page.

WestWyck also features the fitting of water saving devices in all dwellings such as low-flow shower heads. Appliance spaces are designed to cater for water efficient appliances so, for example, only front-loading washing machines will fit in the laundries. Covenants on title commit the owners of the dwellings to the use of water efficient appliances.

This construction photo taken immediately after planting
shows both the swale drain (part of the stormwater system)
on the left and evapo-transpiration bed
(part of the blackwater treatment system) on the right.

At WestWyck the shower and bath grey water is recycled and fed into an AquaClarus custom-designed treatment tank located under the decking in the communal / recreation area. Here it is subjected to biological / bacterial treatment, then filtered through membranes and given ultra-violet exposure in one tank before being pumped to an aeration tank where it is stored before being pumped back into the toilet cisterns and washing machines when required.

Blackwater from the toilets and kitchen sinks is also treated on site. This waste water is fed into two large vermiculture pits under the north end and at both sides of the carpark. The solids settle and are treated by the worms while the liquid is fed into evapo-transpiration beds for treatment.

There are three transpiration beds. One is a thriving garden bed at the eastern end of the site. This contains woolly ti-tree and a variety of local native reeds and aromatic plants. At either side of the car park are narrow transpiration beds planted down with Kanookas or Water Gums and reeds. The Kanookas are known for their capacity to transpire effectively and for being able to thrive in high nutrient soils.

The carpark itself is designed with a camber which delivers the surface water into the evapo-transpiration beds that abut it.

And, of course, the landscape design is based upon the principle of saving water. The use of local native plants and heavy mulching should ensure that the garden can withstand extended period of dryness.