WA gardens take over a third of suburban families water usage, according to Minister for Water Simone McGurk.

With Water Corp charging more per litre to households with higher water usage, many are looking for ways to save on water with a forecasted dry summer looming.

To combat this, the State Government and the Water Corporation are incentivising local councils to promote the planting of native, water-wise plant life into WA suburbs.

The State Government funded water-wise greening scheme is designed to encourage local communities to foster native sustainable plant life, offering interested councils up to $10,000 of co-funding each year. 

The scheme, which has already seen success in areas such as Bayswater, will help local communities achieve better water quality, increase biodiversity and cool local communities. 

Curtin University’s professor for sustainability Peter Newman stressed the importance of water-sensitive gardens as Australian weather becomes more erratic with longer dry spells and more unpredictable rainfall: “We must adapt to this while doing all we can to help the world get to net zero when global cooling can begin.”

Ms McGurk said, “The prolonged dry weather following last summer was a stark reminder of the need to adapt to a future with less reliable rainfall.”

This is not new information as the state has seen a 20 per cent rainfall drop since the 1970s, but rather acts as a push from local councils to help cultivate cooler, greener and more sustainable neighbourhoods, Ms McGurk said.

This drive for more sustainable neighbourhoods has been felt both within councils and by locals as more West Australians try to inspire sustainability in suburban gardens. 

Behrooz Eslam is a local gardening legend in the city of Kwinana, having turned his verge into a thriving ecosystem for native and sustainable plant life while also running a business to help schools teach sustainable gardening to students. 

Mr Eslam said that as a country with an increasingly hot climate, it’s in everyone’s best interest to work with the environment rather than against it, which includes cultivating native plant life best suited for our environment.

As the Water Corporation announced another rate increase of 2.5 per cent in July this year, and the growing cost of living crisis continues, all West Australians are feeling the need to pinch each penny.

By cultivating a garden that saves money with water costs by fostering native plants such as the Coastal Wattle and the Toothbrush Grevillea, locals can maintain a garden without worrying about flushing money down the drain.

There is also space for a community to grow and connect through shared sustainable gardening, which the water-wise greening scheme hopes to encourage.

Mr Eslam believes this is the right direction for local councils to go, as he wants to see continued action from local councils to help promote sustainable gardening as well as the spread of native plantlife with a focus on growing communities around gardening, such as Kwinana’s Sloan Cottage community garden. 

The Water Corporation is asking councils to express their interest in the scheme before December 20, 2024, hoping to commence funding early next year. For more information, visit the Water Corporation website.