Water and energy innovation on display

South east of Melbourne, a recent chance to see the Aquarevo development up close proved a great success. Facilitated by Clearwater, the event attracted around 50 attendees spanning developers, water corporations, capacity building organisations, and some of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC)’s small to medium size enterprise partners.

Aquarevo is an innovative residential development created collaboratively by South East Water and Villawood Properties. Its properties will incorporate water and energy initiatives that are set to have a big impact, like homes that use 70% less drinking water than the average house.

With working examples of the new technologies on display during the 20 August event, presenters spoke on capturing rainwater to supply a household’s own hot water, recycling wastewater on site, and using remote smart control technology for routine tasks – like emptying an on-site rainwater tank to reduce local flooding by capturing anticipated rainfall.

The day also saw the launch of a new Aquarevo case study by the CRCWSC’s Kim Markwell, Leader of Project D1.4 (Learning through demonstration and integration). The resource lays out the local context for the Aquarevo development, its challenges and outcomes, technologies in detail, and lessons learnt from the process.

Another highlight for visitors was the chance to interact with a model of the Aquarevo development and its surrounding suburbs.

Enabling people to explore the impact of varying temperature, the model is an interactive tools that reveals the implications of water innovation. A highlight for visitors was its heat map, which compares a markedly cooler Aquarevo to the temperatures of neighbouring suburbs, throwing into stark relief the value of water sensitive urban design in reducing peak heat to enhance health, amenity, habitat, and microclimate.

See a video summary of the day here.