South Australia, and in particular the greater Adelaide region, is poised to take the next step in urban water management, setting us on a trajectory towards sustainable water management akin to the government and industry green energy initiatives of the late 2000s.
In our March 2023 e-news we invited you to participate in the community values survey released in conjunction with the Resilient Water Futures project, led by SA Water on behalf of SA Government agencies. We are now extending the challenge to our partners and the wider water sensitive urban design (WSUD) and integrated water management (IWM) industry to contribute to development of a strategy and framework to maximise opportunities to achieve integrated water management (IWM) solutions.
Our urban water journey in recent years
6 years ago …
In 2016-17, South Australian water specialists participated in a process to develop a Vision and transition strategy for a water sensitive Adelaide. More information about the strategy is available on the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities’ knowledge platform. The group of SA experts participated in a series of workshops applying the CRCWSC Water Sensitive Cities Index Tool to assess where Adelaide sat on our pathway to a water sensitive city. The participants identified that South Australia should focus our IWM efforts on protection of our ecological assets, ensuring quality urban spaces, increasing community capital, and ensuring good water sensitive governance. These are demonstrated by the red arrows in Figure 1 below, which indicates Adelaide’s performance (blue area) on the Water Sensitive Cities spectrum in 2016, compared with the water sensitive goals and the idealised Water Cycle City benchmark (dashed green line). The water sensitive city is represented by the perimeter of the radar diagram.
Figure 1. Adelaide’s performance (blue area) compared to the water sensitive goals and the idealised Water Cycle City benchmark (dashed green line). Adapted from Gunn AW, Werbeloff L, Chesterfield C, Hammer K and Rogers BC (2017) Benchmarking, envisioning and transition planning for a water sensitive Adelaide: Final case report. Melbourne, Australia: Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities.
2 years ago …
The Department for Environment and Water released the Urban water directions statement (UWDS) to initiate industry-wide discussions on the future of urban water management. In September 2021, Water Sensitive SA in partnership with Stormwater SA held a forum for urban water practitioners to discuss the UWDS. WSUD and IWM practitioners from local and state government and the consulting industry identified priority issues for the future management of urban water, including:
- a collective vision across all entities with a role in urban water management to provide water for greening and cooling; horticulture (including urban food) and manufacturing; and urban watercourses in their natural state
- governance structures that enabled holistic management of watercourses and effective integration of flood management solutions
- a financial structure that matures to meet the needs of a city that is growing and densifying.
1 year ago …
The Goyder Institute for Water Research led the Future urban water management options for a vibrant and resilient Adelaide independent research panel project, to assess options for the future management of urban water and urban waterways to support a vibrant Adelaide. This was delivered through two tasks identifying:
- Options for future urban water and urban waterway governance, funding and policy arrangements for Adelaide based on a review of the effectiveness of national and international models.
- Integrated, on-ground management options for hydrological and ecological restoration to support healthy waterways, urban vegetation and associated urban cooling, and coastal environments.
Future opportunities
There appears to be good alignment of values and aspirations of urban water managers to underpin the Resilient Water Futures project, as demonstrated by the consistent messages emerging from industry and other stakeholder engagement in recent years on opportunities to redefine our urban water future.
The Stormwater Expert Panel, established as an outcome of the Urban water directions statement, will soon provide further recommendations to government and industry on responsibilities for each part of the drainage system – private local, public local and regional (major) drainage and funding options that recognise multiple benefits and beneficiaries.
These urban water initiatives will soon converge and the combined efforts of government and industry will set a path for a resilient water future for Greater Adelaide and the regions.