Leadership and influence

Leaders and champions play a crucial role in enabling water sensitive solutions and practices. Often it is the persistence and enthusiasm of a set of individuals that drives change in an organisation and in an industry.

First of its kind in Australia, City of Orange implemented a stormwater harvesting scheme to supplement their town potable water supply.

A Melbourne development planned in collaboration between a water utility and a developer, which includes smart technology to provide rainwater for hot water supply, recycled water supply and real-time monitoring of water use, forthcoming storms and tank levels.

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.

Collaboration between experts from Australia and China has led to the delivery of Innovation Park in Kunshan, China. The area demonstrates how water sensitive solutions can be delivered at all scales.

Josh Byrne led by example by building his own home using environmental principles and proving that sustainability can be affordable. Josh's house includes a range of water sensitive urban design and water efficiency measures.

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.

The resource recovery from wastewater project developed a new way of recovering energy, water and valuable nutrients (phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium) from wastewater (treated sewage).

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.

The Glenelg to Adelaide pipeline delivers a reliable climate independent water supply to irrigate open space in western and central Adelaide.

The Glenelg to Adelaide pipeline delivers a reliable climate independent water supply to irrigate open space in western and central Adelaide.

The project aims to create 10 hectares of green infrastructure by 2021, to support a prosperous, healthy, cool and liveable city.

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).