The Federal Budget last night included ‘$26.1 million towards construction of the Quality Water for Wannon project in Victoria’, a project by the Victorian Government and Wannon Water. The project will improve the aesthetic quality of drinking water for three communities in south-west Victoria: Hamilton, Portland and Port Fairy.
The project is a novel and innovative investment opportunity that will benefit not only the local communities but also the national water industry. It will challenge existing norms and perceptions about what constitutes healthy and acceptable water quality, and will generate new insights and evidence that can inform future decisions and actions. The project demonstrates an innovative approach to quantifying the additional public health, cost-of-living and business efficiency outcomes that can be achieved by improving aesthetic water quality.
The project will also explore how improving aesthetic water quality can enhance social inclusion, cultural diversity and community wellbeing for First Nations people in these areas. The project will help to quantify the economic impact of poor health caused by water quality and lack of availability and Wannon Water plans to document and share learnings to support application in remote, regional and First Nations communities nationally.
10 May 2023
