Nothing is currently more critical to Sydney residents than water, which is why the Liberal Party has announced a significant increase in the Sydney Water rainwater rebate, Anthony Roberts MP, Member for Lane Cove said today.

“The Liberal Party will provide a $1500 rebate for all tanks greater than 2000 litres connected to a toilet or washing machine,” Mr Roberts said.

“NSW is in the grip of a water crisis and our rainwater tank rebate can provide a real incentive to residents in the north-west to save water now and save money in the medium to long-term.

“Sydney water supplies are already below 35 per cent capacity.

“The problem isn’t the lack of rain, the problem is that it hasn’t been falling in Sydney’s catchment, and for 12 years, Labor has delivered no new sources of supply.”

Mr Roberts said Labor had failed on recycling – the recycling rate is an embarrassing 3.5 per cent, it has failed on storm water harvesting, stalled on accessing groundwater, plundered water from the Shoalhaven and implemented harsh water restrictions on Sydney residents.

Mr Connolly said he had seen documents obtained recently from Sydney Water that said the amount of people participating in the Government’s current rebate scheme (of $150) is declining.

“This is why the Liberal Party has significantly increased the rebate to $1500 and extended it to at least 2011,” he said.

“In contrast to Labor we understand that people already have large mortgages and need an adequate financial incentive to buy a rainwater tank.

“If Labor adopted the Liberal/Nationals policy to increase the rainwater tank rebate to $1500, we’d go a long way to stemming the draining of water from our dams.”

Mr Roberts said a NSW Liberal/Nationals Government will be spending $1 billion on a Drought Proofing NSW Fund.

“This fund will provide funding for projects, including stormwater harvesting, large scale recycling, repairing leaky pipes and other ageing infrastructure and dam enhancement,” he said.