Tools & Resources

Institutional Capacity relating to people and organisations has been identified as a key barrier to the successful implementation and mainstream adoption of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD).For more information about the importance of Institutional Capacity, please refer to the Building Institutional Capacity page of this website.Click hereto download the resources associated with the delivery of a four phase process that council officers can deliver themselves to:

• Assess whether the necessary elements of Institutional Capacity are present to drive the uptake of WSUD within your organisation;
• Prioritise capacity building initiatives to improve your organisation’s Institutional Capacity in this regard;
• Develop a prioritised action plan (management strategies) to build this capacity.

The Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority (CMA) is very pleased to release the Draft NSW MUSIC Modelling Guideline for comment and review, which is MUSIC Version 4 compliant.

To develop a MUSIC Model that sufficiently represents the area likely to be developed, a series of steps need to be conducted, both within and outside the modelling environment.  These draft guidelines provide the necessary detail to undertake these steps.

Without exception, the Sydney Metropolitan CMA accepts no responsibility for the application of these draft guidelines and/or the derived modelling results, outcomes or outputs.

This draft document is a guide only, it is strongly recommended professional experience and judgment must still be applied to ensure the modelling is done in a logical fashion.

This document is a live version, which will be updated to ensure content is in accordance with NSW Government Policy and evolutions thereabouts.  For further information about policy direction, development and delivery in this regard, please contact Peter Marczan, Manager Technical Advisory Unit (Water), Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water on (02) 9995 6059 or via peter.marczan@environment.nsw.gov.au.

It is the intention to integrate stakeholder feedback into a technical review of the document, which will be scheduled as soon as seed funding and additional funding partners can be located.  Click here to download a Feedback Form.

Councils may like to incorporate one or more of these clauses into council reports, tenders, expressions of interest, briefs etcetera and to facilitate the embedding of WSUD elements into projects.Click here to download a copy.

The Stormwater Industry Association’s Stormwaternet is a NSW based, email chat group, which enables subscribers to ask questions and seek advice while building their own network with members of the stormwater community.

The Urban Sustainabililty Support Alliance’s Sustainability Tool Selector – A Guide for Local Government showcases ten tools (procedure, guidance, method, evaluation or assessment to accomplish an objective or achieve a result) assisting councils with evaluation, decision making, performance indicator development and tracking progress towards sustainability at an organisational and project level.

The guideline provides a description of each tool, intended outcomes, application, strengths, special considerations/ limitations, resourcing commitments, available support, source and a NSW council case study detailing application.

About 70% of urban catchments’ impervious area is associated with transport (roads, driveways and car parks) and identified as a prominent source of stormwater pollution (suspended solids, metals, organics and nutrients).

Click here to access 12 freely available documents on Sustainable Road Design and Stormwater Management from Austroads.

Download a copy of the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority’s Beyond the Pavment – RTA Urban Design Policy, Procedures and Design Principles.

The Water for Life Education Program’s Water Education Resource Directory is a public online searchable database of water-related education resources and programs in Australia.

The WSUD Introductory Fact Sheet was developed to provide a brief overview of the principles underpinning Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) and elements thereabouts.  Including, the impacts of urbanisation and the opportunities WSUD provides as a means to reconnect the built and natural forms.This tool is best used as an introduction or starting point for those practitioners or elected officials both within and external to your organisation who either want or need to know more about WSUD.

WSUD Typical Drawings are currently being developed and will be released in the very near future.

In 2009, the Lower Georges River Sustainability Initiative (LGRSI) identified Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) as a critical approach to improve the effectiveness of urban water management within the lower Georges River catchment.

In support of this aim, a Rapid Assessment and Action Planning Tool was developed to measure the institutional capacity of participating councils and determine associated strategies for improvement.  Activities were linked to LGRSI on-ground works funding.

The Botany Bay Water Quality Improvement Plan, was selected to inform project selection as it determines sub-catchment based stormwater management priority areas.  However, Council staff also identified the need to document and justify project selection criteria and decision support frameworks within these sub-catchments, leading to the establishment of the following WSUD Decision Support – Comparative Assessment Tool.

Click here for further information about the tool itself and how to use it.

Incentives for WSUD can be offered by local government and other organisations to facilitate the uptake of WSUD within their area of operation . Typically, incentives are  linked to existing dwellings or retrofit situations where opportunities for implementing WSUD or other sustainability elements are not readily enabled or required such as through a Development Application Process.Examples of the incentives for WSUD include:

• Financial Incentives;
• Non-financial Incentives;
• Education Programs;
• Assistance Programs.

Click Here to access further information about Incentives – What are they? Why we need them? How to develop them; and Case Study examples.

The WSUD Interim Reference Guideline – Concept Design was produced to enable the local application of the South East Queensland’s (SEQ) Water by Design Program’s Concept Design Guidelines for WSUD.

The SEQ document seeks to assist multi-disciplinary teams conceptualise and develop design solutions that integrate best practice sustainable urban water management within the urban form.

The WSUD Interim Reference Guideline – Concept Design does not replace the SEQ document, rather it replaces Queensland references with Sydney specific alternatives only.  Including:

• Design Objectives – Conservation and Stormwater Quality;
• Drivers for WSUD in Sydney;
• Key Sydney based considerations;
• Case Studies – Retrofit Open Space & Town Centre.

Please note, this document is live and will be updated immediately and as required to ensure content is in accordance with NSW Government Policy and evolutions thereabouts.

Incorporating Presentation Notes with each slide, the WSUD Introductory Presentation takes up to an hour to deliver and depending on the audience; practitioners are encouraged to add slides and tailor the presentation to suit organisational or audience WSUD information needs, knowledge and/or expertise.

In downloading and using this document, it is accepted by the Sydney Metropolitan CMA that the following conditions will be adhered to without exception:

1. Only people with practice and experience in WSUD should give this presentation as they need to be familiar with concepts to correctly answer questions from the audience.  If this person does not exist within your council, you may like to seek external assistance from consultants, researchers or other known WSUD specialists;
2. The Presentation notes should be seen as a guide only;
3. Individual presenters are responsible for the content and quality of the presentation;
4. Presenters are requested to retain all references as they represent further sources of information and acknowledge the rightful authors of the work.

Professor Tony Wong’s interview on American Radio on 20^th May 2010 concerning The Water Paradigm Shift: The “water sensitive city” of the future and campaigns for water savings now (Boulder Green Building Guild Footprint Radio considers real ways to redefine water conscious cities, buildings, and people. Also interviewed are Melissa Essex Elliot, Manager of Water Conservation at Denver Water and Jeff Woodward from the Center for Resource Conservation are aslso intereviewed.

ABC Rearvision Radio Program on Wednesday 17, February, 2010 recorded The tale of two cities about how over the past ten years Australian cities and towns have faced water shortages and water restrictions, yet Singapore, which once imported 80 per cent of its water, has become self sufficient.  What lessons can Australian cities learn from the Singapore case study?

Is Victoria’s Desal Worth the Cost? Was recorded on 1 February 2011, Mike Woods, ABC Reporter and reports a critique of Melbourne’s desalination plant, which costed $5.8 billion and while still under construction has added $100 per year to every Victorian’s water bill.

Released in May 2004, the WSUD Technical Guidelines explain how best to incorporate and design measures for urban development.  Drafted for use by Western Sydney councils; some elements are also applicable to master planners, developers and builders.  Furthermore, the material is relevant to other Sydney Metropolitan regions and beyond.

For ease of download, the documents are in two parts:

WSUD Technical Guidelines Part 1 (3Mb)

Appendices – Worked Design Examples Part 2 – Appendices (2Mb)

The WSUD Tools and Resources Database is a compendium of all Australian tools and resources (including weblinks) known to the WSUD Program and include the following:

• Community Visioning;
• Receiving Water Health;
• Planning and Policy;
• Deemed to Comply Solutions;
• Conceptual Design;
• MUSIC Assessment Tool;
• MUSIC Modeling;
• Standard WSUD Drawings;
• Development Assessment;
• Detailed Design;
• Technical Design;
• Plant Selection;
• Construction and Asset Handover;
• Erosion and Sediment Control;
• Operation and Maintenance;
• Life Cycle Costing.

Should you locate any additional technical documents not currentl listed and/or wish to share your own publicly via this site, please contact Kate Black, WSUD Program Manager on info@wsud.org or via (02) 9895 6206.

Click here to watch Landcom’s 7 minute video, Living With Water – Water Sensitive Urban Design, which details the benefits and principles (including biological processes) of WSUD for reducing the impacts of urban development on the natural hydrological cycle.

The NSW Government’s Water for Life Program has produced a series of short video clips to promote stormwater reuse schemes based in the Sydney Metropolitan region.

Click here to watch the three videos detailing Willoughby Council’s ‘The Concourse’ stormwater harvesting project based at Chatswood’s Civic Place.  The videos showcase the 5000m3 underground storage tank and associated potable water savings; overcoming the challenges of implementing a stormwater re-use project; and future plans fpr the project.

Click here to watch 3 videos depicting Waverley Council’s Bronte Park stormwater reuse scheme.  Including stormwater collection, storage, treatment and re-use at irrigating parklands, toilet flushing, ocean pool cleaning and cleaning public places.  Specifically, the videos examine project why and how considerations; design and ongoing maintenance challenges; and the results and benefits of the project.

Click here to watch 2 videos showing how the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust are implementing stormwater reuse initiatives using runoff from the surrounding urban area.  Part One shows why the stormwater re-use scheme was built, infrastructure challenges, water quality is improvements and scheme benefits. Part Two depicts history, maintenance challenges, water efficiency, stormwater recycling and educational initiatives.

Click here to watch the ABC’s Catalyst Program’s report - Toxic Sediment in Sydney Harbour, a legacy of industrial pollution and ongoing stormwater pollution.  Unfortunately, interviewed researchers do not extend management solutions to include WSUD.  Regardless, it is still a good tool to show senior management and elected officials the impacts of stormwater pollution on our receiving environments.

Click here to watch two videos developed by Melbourne Water’s Clearwater Program about restoring the health of Little Stringybark Creek.  The first video details the impacts of residential development on the health of the creek and the adoption of WSUD as a solution.  The second video details the benefits of the community engagement, education and incentives scheme that was delivered in parallel to ensure the project’s ultimate success.