A mural for Unitywater's Ferny Hills reservoir

Unitywater has invited residents of the Brisbane suburb of Ferny Hills to paint a mural on the walls of their local water reservoir, in an effort to reduce graffiti.

Unitywater Acting Executive Manager, Infrastructure Services Stephen Jewell said the Hutton Road Reservoir had suffered from recurring graffiti and, as a highly visible landmark, a positive change was needed.

He noted that it costs Unitywater “between $200 and $1500 to remove graffiti from our infrastructure”. The presence of a mural to deter tagging, chosen by the community, was seen as a way of “reducing our operating costs to keep bills as low as possible for our customers”.

Unitywater partnered with not-for-profit mural expert Phantast. The president of the community-based organisation, June Hintz, said their success in deterring future graffiti on their murals is down to using local disadvantaged youth and known taggers in the projects, working side by side with trained local artists.

“We find that graffiti artists are less likely to tag another artist’s work because they believe it should be respected,” she said.

This mural is the first in a series on Unitywater infrastructure to be rolled out across the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay regions. There is another mural in progress at Eversleigh Rd Sewage Pump Station, Scarborough; while locations in review include Weyba Esplanade Sewage Pump Station, Noosa, and Queen Street Reservoir, Caloundra.