Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) Targets

Challenge

The South Australian Government’s water security plan, Water for Good, includes a number of commitments to increase the adoption of water sensitive urban design (WSUD), primarily across the Greater Adelaide region. One of these actions requires the Government to introduce targets for WSUD. It is widely accepted that WSUD systems will not exhibit the same performance in different climates and there is a need to take this issue into consideration. Amongst many other technical and scientific factors, there is also a need to consider the requirements of receiving water bodies when setting WSUD targets.

Solution

This project will review current targets from other regions in Australia (e.g. NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory, and Western Australia) and assist with the development of appropriate interim water use, urban runoff quantity and runoff quality targets which must be demonstrated by developments in the greater Adelaide region. Interim targets for WSUD will be recommended based on the assessment outcomes. Where possible, recommendations will be consistent with state government agency regulations and initiatives including the Water for Good, The 30 Year Plan, the EPA Water Quality Policy, the Adelaide coastal water quality management plan, and the Adelaide Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Plan. It is anticipated that further detailed analysis and research will be required to finalise these targets by 2013, which is the timeline proposed by Water for Good for implementation of WSUD.

Achievements

Two presentations have been made to the SA Government Agency WSUD working group, in June and September 2011.

Next Steps/Future Work

Comments have been sought from the working group on the draft project report prior to finalisation and opportunities will be identified for the publication of work into the future.