Success for our innovative watering system!
Hotter dry summers, strong drying winds and low and variable rainfall posed a challenge for Cottesloe Coastcare, with many of our new plants not surviving their first summer. The answer has been an innovative watering system, combined with soil‑moisture monitoring to improve survival and reduce volunteer workload. The system has already proved itself with increased survival rates for the 5,000 plants planted on the Cottesloe dunes in 2025.
As Mike Ewing says “It’s about making every drop of water count. By combining volunteer commitment with smart tools, we’re improving survival rates, reducing effort, and developing techniques that can be more widely applied.”
Cottesloe Coastcare collaborated with Town of Cottesloe staff and research partners to develop and refine the system. Our thanks to Bruce Ivers, Perth NRM, Axis Technology and the Rotary Club of Melville. A new partnership with the University of Western Australia (UWA) is taking this further and developing watering protocols tailored to our variable coastal climate.
More information is available in Eden Bibby’s detailed report here: Smart Watering: Cottesloe Coastcare’s Innovation in Dune Restoration. Eden is a Bachelor of Science (Marine Biology and Natural Resource Management) student at the University of Western Australia.
Cottesloe Coastcare welcomes collaboration with other groups interested in adopting similar systems. Please contact us if you would like more information – info@cottesloecoastcare.org.
