WSUD Capacity Building Programs in Australia

A number of Australian WSUD capacity building programs provide training and knowledge sharing opportunities, and are investing in resources and guidance to progress the delivery of 'water sensitive urban design'. Here is a brief synopsis of each, with links to each program's website.

WSUD in Sydney (NSW)
Botany Bay CCI (NSW)
Clearwater (Vic)
Water by Design (QLD)
New Water Ways (WA)
Urban Water Security Research Alliance (South East Qld research program)
Cities as Water Supply Catchments (National research program)
CSIRO - Water for a Healthy Country Flagship Program - Urban Water theme (National research program)
Federal Government programs

WSUD in Sydney

A Program of the Sydney Metro Catchment Management Authority (SMCMA).

This decade plus program is working towards the vision of Sydney becoming a "Water Sensitive City". WSUD in Sydney works with a range of partners, including Sydney Metropolitan Councils, to deliver technical workshops; progress research; and develop, adapt and promote the latest technical guidance for WSUD.
Go direct to the www.wsud.org website OR read a brief summary of the websites contents in the urbanwater.info Resource Library.

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Botany Bay Water Quality Improvement Program

A program of the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority (SMCMA) with support from the Australian Government (Coastal Catchments Initiative).

This program seeks long-term protection of Botany Bay - its waters, estuary and catchment. It engages with councils, stakeholders and the community across this Sydney catchment, to develop and deliver a Water Quality Improvement Plan.

The BBCI website provides program updates, reports and model documents for councils. WSUD resources of interest to councils from the BBCI include a report into the barriers and opportunities for WSUD in the catchment, a model WSUD LEP clause and WSUD adaptation strategy.

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 ClearWater (Melbourne Water)

Clearwater is a WSUD and sustainable urban water management (SUWM) education program that is hosted and funded by Melbourne Water with special project funding provided by Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, the Municipal Association of Victoria and Victorian EPA.

Clearwater offers training, tours, events, advice, tools and online information to build capacity of practitioners who plan, design and manage our urban environments. Events and resources are designed to build knowledge and learning networks that will accelerate the uptake of SUWM and enable organisational change.

Anyone with more than a passing interest in WSUD is advised to visit and bookmark the Clearwater website: www.clearwater.asn.au - in particular the program's online Resource Library.

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Water by Design (South East Queenslands' Healthy Waterways Partnership)

This program was established by Healthy Waterways in 2005 as an integral component of the SEQ Healthy Waterways Strategy. It supports the uptake of Water Sensitive Urban Design in South East Queensland.

Water by Design brings together knowledge and expertise in WSUD and sustainable urban water management (SUWM) to assist the land development industry and government make the transition towards smarter water management.

The program has made significant investments in recent years to develop practical and credible technical guidance across the WSUD development and the 'infrastructure life cycle' (see right).

A visit to the Water By Design website: www.waterbydesign.com.au is recommended. The online practioners Q&A  forum is a useful source of second opinions, for example, if you have a specific question on a  technical aspect of WSUD delivery.

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 New Water Ways

A Western Australia program with strong links to local government and industry to enhance the Integrated Water Cycle Management (IWCM) knowledge base and facilitate on-ground outcomes. New WAter Ways delivers an adaptive and responsive up-skilling program for State and Local Government engineers, planners and the development industry in Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD).

Visit the website and subscribe to the program's regular e-news - particularly if you have a special interest in the interactions between surface and groundwater management in urban settings.

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 The Urban Water Security Research Alliance

A multi-partner research program to help address South-East Queensland emerging urban water issues. This program will focus on water security and recycling and will seek to align research activities with other like organisations. Research covers 'closing the loop' in water supply systems, informed decision making, and managing new water supply systems. The program will examine fundamental issues necessary to deliver the region's water needs, including:

• ensuring the reliability and safety of recycled water systems
• advising on infrastructure and technology for the recycling of wastewater and stormwater
• building scientific knowledge behind the management of health and safety risks in the water supply system.

Access research publications here.

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The Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, Monash University

The Centre consolidates years of research to provide socio-technical empirical evidence to guide the formulation of an overall policy blueprint for Water Sensitive Australian Cities. It hosts a number of complementary programs, briefly outlined below. 
For complete details visit the Centre's website www.watersensitivecities.org.au.

Cities as Water Supply Catchments is a signficant multi-year research program between Monash University and the universities of Queensland and Melbourne; industry; and local, state and federal government partners.

The research aims to harness the potential of stormwater to overcome water shortages, reduce urban temperatures, and improve the landscape and liveability of Australian cities. It investigates how existing centralised water infrastructure can be combined with new decentralised systems at the household, street and neighourbood levels.

It comprises eight multi-disciplinary research projects: Sustainable technologies; Green cities and micro-climate; Stream ecology; Risks and health; Society and Institutions; Economic Valuation; and Demonstration Through Urban Design.

The Urban Water Governance Program seeks to bridge the policy-implementation gap through fundamental and applied research in urban water management and, in particular, governance.

Complimentary social and technical research projects draw on the experiences of managing water in cities, exploring four thematic areas: Institutions and Organisations; Innovation and Adoption; Community Water Management; and Urban Water Futures.  Of particular interest to council based WSUD strategists may be the publications on Institutions and Organisations - which explore barriers and 'enabling contexts' for sustainable urban water management.

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CSIRO - Water for a Healthy Country Flagship Program - Urban Water theme

CSIRO's Water for a Healthy Country Flagship program includes an Urban Water Theme which aims to enable the mainstream adoption of innovative, integrated and sustainable water management for Australia’s cities. Research spans across key areas, including:
 

• Integrated Water Systems Analysis to identify viable and sustainable strategies for integrated urban water management;
• Recycling and Diversified Supply;
• Distributed Systems - from household to development scale;
• Advanced water treatment technologies for water, wastewater and stormwater;
• Sustainable asset management; and
• Urban Water Environments to understand the behaviour of contaminants in urban water environments and developing advanced techniques.

Access reports from the flagship's website: www.csiro.au/science/Urban-Water.html

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Federal Government

The National Water Commission is responsible for driving progress towards the sustainable management and use of Australia's water resources under a blueprint for water reform - called the National Water Initiative - which includes water supply, efficiency and pricing innovations. The overarching objective is for reliable, healthy, safe and sustainable urban water supply.

The Commissions' free e-news: 'waterlines' offers a useful way to keep in touch with the wide-ranging project outputs from the NWC. Urban Water publications can be downloaded here.

Also of interest: the Water For the Future program - water in towns and cities.

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