Waterwise Council
L-R: Minister for Water, the Hon. Simone McGurk MLA, Director General at Department of Water and Environmental Regulation Michelle Andrews, and the Gold Waterwise Council Award recipients including Councillor Tony Natale, third from the right, on behalf of the Town of East Fremantle.
The Town was first endorsed as a Waterwise Council in 2020 and later in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, the Town was first recognised as a Gold Waterwise Council. We have worked hard to meet the requirements for Gold accreditation and have again been awarded with Gold status in 2024. The Waterwise Council Program, a joint initiative of the Water Corporation and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, recognises Councils in Western Australia for their leadership in saving water and building waterwise communities.
As a Gold Waterwise Council, we have made significant progress towards achieving best practice water efficiency within our operations and throughout our local community. We are dedicated to continuing our efforts to reduce water consumption and improve efficiency.
To achieve Gold accreditation, endorsed Waterwise Councils must meet several requirements. These include having a Water Corporation approved waterwise verge policy and verge guidelines, having all aquatic centers within their local government area endorsed as Waterwise Aquatic Centers, and having an established Water Management Team within the council.
These requirements are part of the Waterwise Council Program’s commitment to supporting councils in improving water efficiency and adopting waterwise practices in their operations and communities.
Our endorsement as a Gold Waterwise Council allows us to apply for additional funding for Waterwise programs.
Follow this link to the Water Corporation for more information.
Request a Verge Tree
Would you like a street tree planted on your verge or know of a particular location where you see the need for additional trees?
Verge trees can play an important role in being waterwise. Planting waterwise trees on verges can help reduce water consumption and create wildlife corridors. They can also enhance local biodiversity and build resilience to climate change.
Please let us know as we would love to plant more trees within the Town's street verges. Rally your neighbours and have the whole street planted.
Request a Verge Tree
Waterwise Verges
The Town encourages residents to develop and maintain waterwise verges and gardens to provide a range of social, environmental and economic benefits to the community.
Waterwise verges can help reduce water consumption, create wildlife corridors, enhance local biodiversity, and build resilience to climate change. Waterwise verges contribute to the visual aesthetic of streets and can create a cooling effect and counteract the heat island effects in summer, increase the thermal performance of homes.
The Town provides a number of annual schemes, which assist residents to create a successful verge garden including:
- The native plant subsidy scheme runs every year during May allowing residents to purchase native plants from local nursery APACE at subsidised prices.
- Access to the Fremantle Recycling Centre to access free mulch and to dispose of green waste. Residents can also purchase FOGO compost to assist in improving the quaility of the soil in your garden.
To Apply for a Verge Garden and to view, the Verge Greening Guidelines, follow the links below. When applying for a Verge Garden please attach a diagram of the proposed works and any amendments to the Verge.
Apply for a Verge Garden
View Verge Greening Guidelines
View Verge Treatment Policy
Public Places and Local Government Property Local Law 2016
Pool and Spa Covers
An average pool can lose a whopping 10,000L of water per month in summer.
A pool or spa cover acts as a simple method to trap water when you're not soaking up the sun, saving both money and time. When fitted correctly a pool cover can prevent up to 97% of evaporation and can cut chemical use by up to 50%
For more information and to calculate how much water your pool could lose over summer visit the Pool Cover Fact Sheet