Current Water Sensitive Performance
Brisbane is a city built on a flood plain. Floods are a familiar, if not necessarily welcomed, part of life. Recognising this, Brisbane aspires to be a city that ‘lives well with flooding’. Brisbane’s community has also experienced drought, and understands that flood resilience, water security and liveability are linked concepts that make up Brisbane’s water story.
Urban water quality has long been a challenge in southeast Queensland, with the Oxley, Breakfast, Norman and Bulimba streams contributing varying degrees of murkiness to the Brisbane River. Floods impact water quality in the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay.
The catchment of most of Greater Brisbane’s water storages are far from pristine due to extensive urbanisation of the Brisbane River system and a lack of greenspace.
Rainwater tanks are common on Brisbane’s residential, business and government buildings. Rainwater is typically used for garden irrigation and also increase community awareness of water quality and reliability.
Change strategy: how to become more water sensitive
Norman Creek has one of the most urbanised catchments in Brisbane and can be used to showcase solutions that can be replicated across the city. A whole-of-catchment flood strategy for the Norman Creek catchment builds flood resilience by harnessing open space opportunities in the public and private realm. The strategy proposes local retention of stormwater and provision of safe passage for overland flows. Flood resilience in the Norman Creek catchment can be improved via:
- an investment framework
- flood resilient streets
- smart rainwater tanks
- living drains
- activating existing flood ways
- a green belt of backyards
- redevelopment typologies
- adventure corridors.
Resources relevant to Brisbane
- Fitzgibbon Chase: A case study in technological innovation, regulation and planning policy connections documents research on governance issues relating to ownership and operation of decentralised water harvesting and treatment systems and the influence of innovative ideas on land use planning policy. Fitzgibbon Chase is a master planned land development located 12 km north east of Brisbane central business district.
- Water, history and the Australian city: Urbanism, suburbanism and water in a dry continent, 1788-2015 provides the historical context for Australian urban and suburban development during European colonisation in 3 cities including Brisbane. Water pricing and public education campaigns were found to have had the greatest impact on ensuring water demand does not exceed water supply.
- Phototrophic bacteria for nutrient recovery from domestic wastewater used domestic wastewater from a Brisbane pump station to evaluate the applicability of using purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) for low temperature domestic wastewater treatment. The results indicate PPB is suitable for domestic wastewater treatment in a broad range of regions.
- Identifying vulnerable populations in subtropical Brisbane, Australia: A guide for heatwave preparedness and health promotion produced a map showing high risk areas and provided key information for targeted public health interventions. Predicted changes in risk areas were also mapped to support long term adaptation and develop health care infrastructure and health promotion strategies.
- Multi-stakeholder scenarios for decision-making in the face of climate change: the matter of scale found that the regional scale South East Queensland Climate Adaptation Research Initiative enabled the integration of stakeholder and sector perspectives related to complex challenges. Institutional and community scale projects were found to be better positioned for scoping more specific and tailored adaptation options.
Stormwater quality
Pesticide occurrence and spatio-temporal variability in urban run-off across Australia
Influence of pH on organic and inorganic colloids in stormwater
Toxicity characterization of urban stormwater with bioanalytical tools
Health risk assessment of urban stormwater
Microbial quality of untreated stormwater in Australian catchments: human health perspectives
Wastewater
Reducing sewer corrosion through integrated urban water management
Influence of pressure main pumping frequency on sulfide formation rates in sanitary sewers
Phototrophic bacteria for nutrient recovery from domestic wastewater
Feasibility of sulfide control in sewers by reuse of iron rich drinking water treatment sludge
Watersupply
Changing household water consumption practices after drought in three Australian cities
A metabolism perspective on alternative urban water servicing options using water mass balance
Water sensitive cities and regions: tackling threats to water resources in metropolitan areas.
Risks to the long-term viability of residential non-potable water schemes: a review
Other
Analysing water sensitive urban design options
Multi-stakeholder scenarios for decision-making in the face of climate change: the matter of scale
Connecting land-use and water planning: Prospects for an urban water metabolism approach
Opportunity Structures: Understanding Capacity for Policy Innovation
Managing urban water crises: adaptive policy responses to drought and flood in Southeast Queensland
Crisis, change and water institutions in Southeast Queensland: strategies for an integrated approach
Norman Creek Catchment: Dwelling on Floodscapes
Becoming a water sensitive city: a comparative review of regulation in Australia
Queensland’s Planning Framework for Water Sensitive Urban Design
- Brisbane infill integrated water management study investigates the impacts of a water sensitive cities approach to infill development in Brisbane. In particular, the study demonstrates how the Infill Performance Evaluation Framework, the Scenario Tool and the Benefit: Cost Analysis Tool have been applied to a site in Norman Creek.
- Solutions for Norman Creek proposes flood resilience initiatives for Norman Creek in Brisbane. The initiatives are based on ideas generated during a research synthesis workshop hosted by the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities and Brisbane City Council in 2016.
- Ideas for South Bank identifies potential water and energy indicatives for the South Bank business precinct including:
- use green infrastructure to harvest water and keep South Bank cool
- manage wastes as a resource and resources as a product
- make sustainability and collaboration ‘business as usual’
- address ‘low hanging’ energy saving measures and scale up renewable energy
- create a sustainability experience via public spaces and community interaction.
- Ideas for Ripley Valley identifies potential applications of emerging sustainable urban water management technologies at a Priority Development Area (PDA). The ideas identified relate to efficient water and sewerage services, rehabilitation of the environment, urban design for communities and creating an effective enabling environment.
- Ideas for UQ St Lucia identifies water and energy initiatives for the University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus. The identified ideas are:
- make existing sustainability initiatives more legible, accessible and connected
- develop an integrated water and energy strategy
- create a welcoming and engaging environment along the river edge
- connect with other water innovation precincts in Brisbane to enhance global reach and recognition for Brisbane as a new world city.
Brisbane infill integrated water management study
Ideas for Catalysing Flood Resilient Design
Queensland Children’s Hospital therapeutic landscapes
Projects to mainstream water sensitive practice
Mainstreaming projects help water sensitive approaches become standard practice, supported by strong
community demand, robust science, technical capability, sufficient funding and supportive governance.
