WSC_index_graphic_2Have you ever wanted to find out how water sensitive your city or council area is?

Moonee Valley City Council were keen to understand how they benchmarked against water sensitivity performance and to evaluate potential management actions to make the most impact from future investment.

The north-west Melbourne council was aware the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) had recently completed the piloting of the Index Tool in Perth and sought Living Rivers funding from Melbourne Water to apply the Index Tool to their municipality.

CRCWSC, E2Designlab and LindseyB have partnered to apply the Water Sensitive Cities Index Tool across various scales and locations throughout Australia in an effort to gather information and data for ongoing improvement to the usability and functionality of the Tool. The outcomes have now been published in a new report, ‘Water Sensitive Cities Benchmarking and Assessment’.

The Moonee Valley process involved a full day workshop with participants representing a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders including Melbourne Water, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and City West Water.

A three-step method for scoring each of the 34 indicators was used. It involved:

  1. Live polling to gauge individual participants’ perspectives on the score for the indicator in question.
  2. Interactive discussion to uncover evidence and justification to inform the indicator’s score.
  3. Reaching consensus amongst the participants on the final score to be assigned.

The council reported afterwards that staff now had a better understanding of their strengths and where improvements could be made to strengthen governance arrangements and build ‘community capital’.

Moving forward the council can now confidently invest in infrastructure to deliver high quality and connected open spaces, protect and enhance the ecological values of the urban landscape, as well as provide diversity of water supply options while creating greener, cooler neighbourhoods.

Download the report

Go to the WSC Index website

Last updated: 11th Jul 2016