Better regulatory frameworks for water sensitive cities (Project A3.2)

Overview

A crucial barrier to advancing water sensitive cities to date has been the existing regulatory arrangements. The need for an improved regulatory framework has been widely accepted but understanding complex existing frameworks as well as how best to reform these has been challenging.

This project will assess current barriers to the adoption of new urban water practices, technologies and alternative water sources arising from legislative and regulatory frameworks. It will also assess the risks associated with projects that utilise alternative water sources.

Other goals of the project include:

1. Identify elements for more comprehensive, co-ordinated and integrated regulatory frameworks.
2. Classify and evaluate mechanisms for assessing, allocating, sharing and distributing risks associated with alternative water sources and water sensitive urban design technologies.
3. Develop a new model for risk assessment and risk diversification.

Key outcomes

The outputs of this project have included a documented review of the existing legislation based on regulatory frameworks across three Australian jurisdictions of Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland; and an assessment of the capacity of such frameworks to help or hinder water sensitive cities.

Researchers have conducted a comparative analysis of current regulatory frameworks for urban water regulation with recommendations for reconfiguring for water sensitive service delivery, and a review of current approaches to legal risk allocation.