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WELCOME
TO WSUD IN THE SYDNEY REGION
The Water
Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) in Sydney Program is a Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority initiative.
The Sydney Metropolitan CMA is a NSW Government agency responsible for the coordination and management of Sydney's natural resources, including land, rivers, estuaries and coastal systems. Our vision is that "The Sydney Community has the knowledge and skill to achieve healthy waterways and bushland that all Sydneysiders can enjoy, now and in the future". To learn more about the Sydney Metropolitan CMA and how your council can benefit from working with us, refer www.sydney.cma.nsw.gov.au
Click
here to download the June 2009 WSUD e-newsletter
Program Aim
The aim of the WSUD in Sydney Program is to enhance the ability and willingness of Council
staff and Councillors to promote and implement more sustainable
water management practices in their councils operations and in urban
development projects in Sydney, Australia.
WSUD GIS Register
The Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority (SMCMA) has funded the development of a WSUD GIS Register for Sydney Metropolitan councils. The Register will record, Traditional, WSUD and Water Quality Monitoring sites (historical and current) installed by Sydney Metropolitan councils.
The vision for the register was to showcase the uptake of WSUD infrastructure by councils while encouraging the sharing of information between councils, research institutions and industry. For example, the register may be used to visit individual sites or to assist adjoining and/or catchment based Local Government Area planning. Research Institutions may use the site to scope research projects. Similarly, Regional Organisation of Councils may like to use the site when developing catchment wide stormwater harvesting schemes.
Please note the register does not necessarily reference all infrastructure or water quality monitoring sites for the region, rather the onus is on Councils to provide the information. If you would like to reference your council’s information on the GIS Register, please ensure that the appropriate data is supplied in the correct format and as per the GIS Data Template. If you do not have direct access to the data yourself, you may like to forward this information request via the appropriate section(s) within your council.
Consider that this as an opportunity to raise your own individual profile and that of your councils through your projects. The WSUD in Sydney Program’s website is a highly trafficked site both nationally and internationally.
For WSUD infrastructure, the option also exists for councils to include a link to a Case Study about the project’s development and/or delivery. Again, information should be provided in the appropriate format and as per the attached GIS Case Study Template. An alternative option may be to request that upon future completion of projects, consultants complete the Template (refer above link) on council’s behalf. In this instance, consultant contact details can be added to the Contact Details section of the template. However, council officer details should also be included. Similarly, you may wish to ask consultants to do so for already completed projects.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the ever lovely Jane Bailey and for all her efforts developing the Register and Blacktown, Holroyd, Ryde and Parramatta councils for providing the first data sets.
A link to the GIS Register will be added in July 2009. For ease of use, play with the buttons on the left hand side to use the mutliple GIS layers.
Cities as Water Supply Catchments - Monash University 5 Year Research Program
Cities as Water Supply Catchments is a 5 year research program led by Professor Tony Wong with a research team gathered from three leading Australian Universities: Monash University, University of Queensland and University of Melbourne. The Program aims to harness the potential of stormwater to overcome water shortages, reduce urban temperatures, and improve the landscape and liveability of Australian cities.
For more information about the Program, including summary brochures, key deliverables and a full report, refer to the Seminars & Events page.
I am very pleased to announce that the following organisations have committed to participate in the Cities as Water Supply Catchments Research Program through a Sydney Metropolitan Consortium led by the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority (SMCMA). Consortium Partners have committed $10,000 plus $2,050 administration fees (paid to the SMCMA to facilitate governance, capacity building and communication initiatives) each year for the 5 years of the Research Program:
- Fairfield City Council;
- Hornsby Shire Council;
- NSW Department of Planning;
- Parramatta City Council;
- City of Sydney;
- Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority; and
- Warringah Council.
While some councils wanted to participate as a funding partner in the Research Program, they were unable due to time and budgetary constraints. As a result, existing Sydney Metropolitan Consortium members have come up with some concessions to enable these councils to seek funding and therefore still participate via funding from 2010/11 budget cycles.
Additional council who wish to join the Sydney Metropolitan Consortium are welcome on the proviso they comply with the following conditions:
- LGAs are situated within the Sydney Metropolitan Region;
- Sign a Memorandum of Understanding;
- Provide written commitment by 30 June 2010 of paying $20,000 plus a $2,050 consortium administration fee in the first year (2010/11) and $10,000 plus $2,050 consortium administration fee per year in the subsequent three years (2011/12 to 2013/14. Note, the $2,050 administration fee would be reviewed annually and in accordance with Research Program Work Plan revisions and may therefore change incrementally.
Several tools were developed at council officer’s behest to assist them in developing a business case to garner senior level support for commitment and participation in the research program. For more information, please refer to the Seminars & Events page
Seminars
A series of seminars, workshops and sites visits have been run
to help increase the understanding of WSUD. A summary of each event
and some key papers presented can be found on the Seminars
& Events page.
Sustainable
Water Challenge
The Sustainable Water Challenge has been held since 2003 and involves
councils entering projects that deal with more sustainable water
management (improved water sustainability) in some way. From 2004
the Sustainable Water Challenge has been open to all councils in
NSW, whereas in 2003 it was limited to councils in the Sydney Region.
More information on the Sustainable Water Challenge, what it involves
and links to this years entries can be found on the Sustainable
Water Challenge page.
The projects entered in the Sustainable Water Challenge are judged
by an expert panel, with category awards given out at a seminar
held in August/September each year. Project summaries for each project
entered to date and a huge range of other case studies can be found
on the WSUD Case Studies page. The Sustainable Water Challenge will not be held in 2009.
WSUD
Planning Guide & Practice Notes
A Water Sensitive Planning Guide was developed with the help of
local council planners and state government agencies. It is anticipated
the planning guide will be adapted for use by councils to update/consolidate
existing DCPs and LEPs. It can be downloaded from the Planning Guide
and Practice Notes page.
A series of practice notes were developed and/or adapted from those
created by LHCCEMS. These relate to common WSUD measures mentioned
in the planning guide. They can also be downloaded freely from the
Planning Guide & Practice Notes page.
WSUD Technical Guide
The UPRCT, Blacktown City Council, Baulkham Hills Shire Council
with the support of the NSW Stormwater Trust and Sydney Water developed
WSUD Technical Guidelines for Western Sydney (Australia). These
guidelines were developed with the involvement of local councils
in Western Sydney. They can be downloaded from the Technical
Guide & Design Specs page.
Information Exchange & WSUD Literature
Refer to the WSUD Literature page for links to download DECC's Managing Urban Stormwater (MUS) Series and/or learn more about upcoming release dates for new publications. Reference to other materials and tools that are or have been jointly developed by the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority and DECC are also included on this page.
During the course of the program a lot of WSUD/water sustainability
literature has been gathered and some of the key papers from Australia
and overseas have been put onto this site to help fill information
gaps. This material can be downloaded from the WSUD
Literature page.
As well many councils have developed innovative WSUD/water sustainability
policies or projects that they have kindly agreed to put onto the
site to share with other councils who may be considering similar
projects or policies. The council projects and/or policies can be
downloaded from the Council Information
Exchange page. If you have any projects or policies that you
think may interest other councils please email them in.
WSUD Images
and Links
I have listed a range of links to other WSUD, water sustainability,
urban design and research sites on the WSUD
links page. This page includes links to rainwater tank suppliers
in NSW.
During the course of the project I have visited many WSUD sites
around Australia and have put together an image bank or photo library
of various WSUD/water sustainability devices in operation. These
WSUD images are for councils to use to prepare reports or presentations
for their councillors, senior management and communities. The images
have been grouped into the following categories: grassed swales
and bioretention systems/swales, rainwater tanks, sand filters and
infiltration/sedimentation ponds, roadway and street retrofits,
WSUD carparks, permeable paving, green roofs, constructed and subsurface
wetlands, constructed fresh water lakes and stormwater reuse in
public art. The entry page to the WSUD image categories and photos
is the WSUD pics page.
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If you have any suggestions on how this site could be improved
to better meet your needs please email me at: info@wsud.org
Regards
Kate Black
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