Concurrently, the price of water in Melbourne rose from $0.91 per m3 in 2007 to $2.57 per m3 in 2015. The VRC responded to these events by seeking cost effective opportunities to reduce the Racecourse’s dependence on fresh water. VRC invested in a new borehole based desalination technology, extracting water from a brackish aquifer. This supplies VRC with 113 000 m3 of ‘new water’ per year for irrigation and non-potable use. This meets nearly 30% of the annual fresh water demand from the site. Energy costs are minimised through direct return of the concentrated salts into the bottom of the aquifer.