When: Monday 9 March 2020, 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start with the talk finishing at 7.30pm.
Where: EnergyLab, 4-12 Buckland St, Chippendale NSW 2008 (click here and here for Google maps).
Tickets: Please book a place through Eventbrite. This event is open to Renew members and the general public.
Cost: A $5 donation would be appreciated to assist with venue costs.

Since the start of European settlement, Sydney has had a history of limited fresh water supply. The Warragamba dam was built in the 1960’s and designed to hold 20 years of supply, a capacity that dwarfed all the existing dams built on the upper Nepean. Despite recent reductions in per capita water use, the increasing Sydney population now has the potential to drain all of our dams in just 6 years’ of drought. 2019 broke records in terms of low dam inflows and saw precipitous reductions in storage levels.

In the search for alternative water supplies, desalination can function as an emergency stop-gap measure, but it is a high energy-consuming, industrial process that increases the water sector’s reliance on the electricity sector. After our ‘black summer’ a deluge has refilled the dams but simply increasing our reliance on desalination is not a sustainable answer.

Talk summary: The built environment across Sydney includes underutilized roof areas that should be used for catchment and collection. Rainwater harvesting systems have the potential to greatly reduce mains water use, leaving more in our dams and ecosystems while simultaneously reducing the negative impacts of urban stormwater and creating more livable cities. A rainwater harvesting system consists of the roof, the gutters, the downpipes, first flush diversion, the tank/s, a tap or pump and in some cases a mains water back-up system. Good design involves specifying robust and integrated systems along with pre or post-filtering to maximise rainwater supply of a suitable quality for the chosen use/s, at a minimum cost and minimum energy use. This talk will detail how you can get your rain harvesting system right.

Bio: John Caley is the director of Ecological Design and provides sustainable design services including household energy assessments, residential building thermal modelling, BASIX assessments and design of rainwater harvesting systems. He has developed detailed rainwater harvesting modeling for Sydney and has over fifteen years’ experience in designing rainwater harvesting systems for clients. John contributed to the Your Home guide on Rainwater and provides rainwater workshops for Inner West Council who continue to maintain a rainwater tank rebate.

You can view the video of John’s presentation on our Youtube channel here.

Directions and further details:

Our events are held at EnergyLab, the home for energy innovation in Australia. Please arrive after 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start with the talk finishing at 7.30pm with time to chat until 8pm. EnergyLab is at 4-12 Buckland St, Chippendale NSW. Entry to the premises is through a metal gate with access to a 2-storey sandstone building along a driveway towards the rear of the property.
Pedestrians enjoy a 15-minute walk from either Redfern or Central Station
Bicycles can be safely locked inside the premises
Bus stops are Broadway at Buckland St. for buses from Central and Broadway Shopping Centre, Broadway for buses coming into the city
Car parking is limited in the area with Broadway Shopping Centre a nearby option.
Access is not currently available for wheelchairs due to stairs at the venue. Please contact us directly if you require more information on access.

Tea, coffee and tasty snacks are available before and after the talk, with donations gratefully accepted. As we have paid an NGO rate for the EnergyLab space, a $5 minimum donation would be appreciated.

Renew is an independent organisation that does not endorse products and seeks to provide members and the general public with information so that they can make well-informed, sustainable decisions.

Renew Sydney Central Branch
David Winterton – Committee member
atasydney@gmail.com
Visit our Renew Sydney Branch Events Page or Renew Sydney Central
on Youtube to see previous presentations.