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Adelaide could soon become a much harsher place to live as extreme temperature events become more common, alongside more frequent and intense floods and droughts. Increasing urbanisation is also reducing the amount of vegetation in the landscape and decreasing water retention.
Water management is at the heart of these issues in Adelaide. We need water to support the plants that will help keep the city cool, mitigate climate change and improve liveability. Healthy waterways are also essential for our wellbeing and resilience.
An independent panel of experts was brought together in 2022 by the Goyder Institute for Water Research to identify key actions and policy recommendations for urban water management that will help address the impact of rising urbanisation and climate change.
The Goyder Institute established a transdisciplinary and multi-organisational team of water experts* to undertake a series of facilitated workshops to identify:
* Baden Myers (Surface water hydrology, UniSA); Mellissa Bradley (Integrated water management, Water Sensitive SA); Chris Chesterfield (Governance, Monash University); Lin Crase (Economics, UniSA), Tanya Doody (Ecology, CSIRO), Howard Fallowfield (Water treatment, Flinders University), Huade Guan (Urban cooling, Flinders University), Martin Lambert (Surface water hydrology, The University of Adelaide), Tim Muster (Water technologies, CSIRO), Bruce Naumann (Stormwater harvesting and recycling, City of Salisbury), Melissa Jane Nursey-Bray (Social science, The University of Adelaide), Margaret Shanafield (Groundwater, Flinders University), Rachel Barratt (Policy and Planning, Jacobs)
The project team found that healthy waterways (blue spaces) and urban vegetation (green spaces) in Adelaide could best be supported by:
The project team also reviewed national and international urban water management models and prepared costs–benefit analyses for five possible new governance options, including associated legislative changes.
Among the recommendations are updates to the Water Industry Act 2012 and other legislation that would enable new governance arrangements to manage stormwater for flood control and as an integrated water resource for achieving economic, cultural, environmental and social outcomes.
Proposed amendments to planning laws would also make sure that the true value of stormwater management is realised and that all new developments have appropriate regard for its value.
The Institute has previously provided advice to the Department of Environment and Water (DEW) which has informed the 2022 Urban Water Directions Statement. The project findings are being considered by a range of stakeholders including those involved in making recommendations to government on future funding and governance arrangements for stormwater.
