What we heard

Our engagement in the Macedon Ranges involved five community pop ups during December 2022, an online survey, 2 online community workshops, and meetings with 5 of our key stakeholders. We asked the community to outline what they value when it comes to water and their priorities for managing water in the Macedon Ranges during wet and dry periods.

From the feedback received the most important ways water is used was for drinking, maintaining ecosystems, and household use.

During April and May we were back out in the community to validate what we heard.

We will be back out in the Macedon community to sense check that we got the feedback and values of the community right.

  • Wet years mean:

    • There’s an abundant supply of water in our natural waterways
    • This means more water in our network.
    • Fields and gardens need less manual watering, as they are watered directly by the rain.

  • Dry years mean:

    • Water is scarce
    • We need to make sure there is enough water for all the things the Macedon Ranges community depends on
    • There’s a great opportunity to find good uses for recycled water, so drinking water can be conserved for where it’s really needed.

  • We always have plenty of recycled water

    Because there will always be wastewater to recycle!

    People always need to go to the toilet, stay clean, and use water in other ways.

    As populations grow, this supply increases – even if individuals are careful about their water use.

Engagement Summary

A snapshot of our engagement
View the full PDF engagement summary open in new window

Full engagement report

Greater Western Water engaged environmental consulting group RPS to design and deliver the engagement program, to support GWW’s understanding of community priorities.

The full report is available here.

One middle aged community member and a young boy and girl with their backs turned to the camera talking to three Greater Western Water staff standing under a red marquee.
A large corflute on an easel with 10 values against which the community has placed sticky dots indicating their preferred value. A Greater Western Water
One male and one female both wearing grey T-shirts talking to a female Greater Western Water staff member whilst looking at a corflute with colour dots placed on 10 values for using recycled water. A Greater Western Water flag, marquee and furphy are in the background.