Water saving project gets a climate fund boost

Lower Barn Close Allotment Society used their Community Climate Fund grant to complete a water conservation project.

The funds helped to purchase the materials to set up new water harvesting stations on the allotment site in Horsham.

Using typical rainfall and consumption over the past two years, they anticipate that the project will decrease water consumption by 20% and save 27,000 litres per year (according to Water Wise that's over 337 typical baths).

The project is a great example of environmental awareness, skills and collaboration resulting in a solution that reduces reliance on mains water as well as lowers water bills.

The team commented:

“Water use is one of the biggest costs for running the allotment and with climate change and increasing prices it’s been a really important project to help manage some of these things.

“I don’t think we would have been able to do it without the Council's grant money, we’ve got lots of people here who are great at putting things together, but we had to purchase certain materials to make it work, so the grant made a massive difference.”

If water conservation is something that would help your local community garden or allotment, Lower Barn Close Allotment Society provide a great example of how to design and construct a really effective solution.

The project team continued:

“We would recommend other allotment societies or community gardens consider a similar project. We would be happy to talk through how we went about the project with other groups.”

Water conservation at home

If you want to reduce water usage in your garden, consider:

• Adding water butts and reusing water from the kitchen from boiling or preparing vegetables or washing up (if there isn’t too much detergent).
• Watering in the morning or evening when it is cooler.
• Using mulch between plants to help keep the moisture in the soil.
• Drought resistant planting.

More water saving tips

For some great water saving tips for the home and garden, as well as other carbon and energy saving tips and advice on how to get involved, visit our Climate and Environment webpages

Has this inspired you?

The Community Climate Fund offers grants of up to £5,000 for local community groups and voluntary organisations for projects that protect the environment and create community value locally.

When you can apply

There are four application rounds each year. The next opportunity to apply opens on 1 September. There is alot of information on our website to help you prepare your application.