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Background to the community education campaign
This community
education campaign aimed to raise awareness and
knowledge of key catchment connections and stormwater
issues. It particularly it targeted those people with
lower levels of knowledge. A comprehensive series of
locally specific education resources were produced as
part of the education campaign. They were designed to
be used with different audiences and in different
forums, to maximise their use in ongoing Council
environmental initiatives. They were also designed to
integrate with Council’s strategic focus on total water
cycle management, and therefore incorporated relevant
water-wise messages.
The campaign was
designed around the following three key messages
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Message 1:
Catchment Connections - Your home, street and
neighbourhood are linked to the local environment,
beaches and waterways……water from your home etc drains
straight to [receiving water body];
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Message 2: Do
you know where water goes (the distinction between
sewer and stormwater systems) ……potential pollutants
it picks up and carries to [receiving water body];
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Message 3:
Water re-use and conservation linked to Council’s
previous messages on this issue.
These messages were
delivered to all residents of the four urban
sub-catchments (approx. 22,000 dwellings) according to
community communication preferences. They were locality
specific for each of the four sub catchments:
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Letter (introducing
project)
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Postcards (sequence
reflecting above three messages)
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Newspaper inserts
(expanding on the above three messages)
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Newspaper
advertisements
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Posters in
commercial areas.
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Confluence and
Aquasculpture
A series of events
were conducted by Hastings Council under the auspices of
Confluence,
a local City of the Arts program promoting public art
and community access by celebrating the environment,
water issues and community perspectives.
Confluence
offered an opportunity for SWEEP to support additional
activities using a participatory, community cultural
development approach, engage more broadly with the
community, and reinforce education messages.
The main event of
Confluence was an exhibition called Aquasculpture, a
public display of commissioned and non-commissioned
sculptural works. SWEEP commissioned 3 artists to work
with community artists in local workshops, to produce
permanent, transportable pieces inspired by the SWEEP
sub-catchments and education messages. These pieces
were displayed at Port Macquarie, during the week
preceding and during Water Week. They will be displayed
by Council in each of the sub-catchments, as well as
Council Chambers.
In addition, SWEEP sponsored a $1,500 Sculpture Prize,
open to all local residents to produce a sculpture
inspired by their local catchment and pollution impacts
on local receiving water bodies. Ten artists entered
the competition, with a range of innovative and original
sculptures that incorporated natural materials from
their sub-catchment (such as sea kelp, grass and reeds),
representations of local flora and fauna, and local
environmental concerns (stormwater pollution,
biodiversity impacts, water quality issues).
Several hundred people
visited the Aquasculpture exhibition on Sunday, 19th
of October. The SWEEP works were particularly popular,
and inspired many to ‘post’ feedback to Council in the
‘letterbox’ provided on-site.
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