Governance and policy

The shift from conventional water management to a water sensitive city is one which requires significant change in culture, technical approaches and principles of urban design. Policy and governance models are essential for effecting and supporting change during this transition, setting standards and regulatory requirements across many areas, and influencing the local, city or regional scale change. Large-scale change also requires significant capacity building and support, which is where structured programs can provide incentives and supportive resources to facilitate leadership from the communities, industries and governments.

In 2010, Melbourne Water and Knox City Council initiated a pilot program to retrofit the 1300 hectare Dobsons Creek catchment with stormwater disconnection measures on public and private land with the aim of improving the health of Dobsons Creek.

This is the world’s biggest recycled water facility in the basement of a residential building, which collects wastewater along with stormwater runoff and rainwater to supply non-potable water demands in the precinct.

The Waterwise Council Program is a collaborative program between the water utility, state government and councils in Western Australia, providing education, training, materials, and funding opportunities to improve water efficiency and build water sensitive communities.

Collaborative planning and design delivered habitat-rich 100m wide waterway corridors which included 'eco-sponges' which hold and infiltrate stormwater runoff to minimise impacts on the waterway.

An infill development in Freemantle that demonstrates a water sensitive approach at all scales, with smart monitoring of on-lot systems, communal groundwater network for garden irrigation and an infiltration basin transformed into a public park.

Demonstration of leadership in policy at a local government level, through the ground-breaking integration of local requirements for stormwater management in developments.

The Angus Creek stormwater harvesting and reuse scheme (the scheme) extracts flows from Angus Creek and harvests stormwater runoff from hard surfaces to irrigate the the Blacktown International Sportspark and neighbouring reserves, supplying up to 200ML of fit-for-purpose water each year.

The City of Gold Coast was one of the early adopters in applying the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities’ Transition Planning Process to develop a water sensitive city vision and transition strategy.

During a one-day workshop, Council and external stakeholders worked together through a facilitated threestep process to agree on the local government area’s current status in meeting the seven goals of a water sensitive city.

This scale and profile presented a unique opportunity in building water sensitive cities, as the economies of scale help to support novel infrastructure approaches and ‘best in class’ approaches to water servicing and urban development.

This project involved diverting water from a council drain into the grounds of Marrickville West Primary School, filtering it and then harvesting it to create a green space for the school and the local community.

On 26 October 2018, Amendment VC154 changed the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP) and all planning schemes, to introduce new stormwater management provisions for urban development and amend State planning policies related to integrated water management (IWM).