Cardinia Shire Mayor, Councillor Jack Kowarzik and South East Water General Manager Strategy and Stakeholder, Karen Lau with Skye and Harrison from Pakenham Little Athletics Club.
South East Water has again teamed up with Cardinia Shire Council to help the community choose tap water over bottled, installing a drinking fountain at the new regional athletics facility at Pakenham’s IYU Recreation Reserve.
The new fountain is part of the Choose Tap® initiative, which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the community and environment by promoting tap water as the most sustainable drink of choice.
“We’re excited to support the Pakenham community to stay active, healthy and hydrated whilst accessing free and fresh tap water at these fantastic new athletic and recreation facilities,” said South East Water General Manager Strategy and Stakeholder, Karen Lau.
“By choosing to refill your water bottle at a Choose Tap® fountain, you’re also helping to protect our environment by reducing the millions of single-use plastic bottles that end up in landfill or our waterways”, Ms Lau added.
The new fountain is the fourth to be installed by South East Water in partnership with Cardinia Shire Council, joining fountains at nearby Toomuc Reserve, Dick Jones Reserve in Lang Lang and Nar Nar Goon Reserve.
Cardinia Shire Mayor, Councillor Jack Kowarzik thanked South East Water for another great collaboration, helping Council to deliver on its commitment to fostering healthy and inclusive communities.
“This partnership project is a resourceful and practical way of positively contributing to waste reduction efforts and promoting healthy hydration habits out in our community,” Mayor Kowarzik said.
The fountains all feature an accessible water bubbler, bottle refill tap, a dog water bowl, solar lighting and a digital water meter – which shows how many plastic bottles have been saved from landfill due to refilling.
The new water fountains are part of the Choose Tap® initiative, which is a coalition of water organisations, including South East Water, and councils across Australia.
Together, they’re working to increase community access to free and fresh tap water.
