Water-sensitive urban design
Water-sensitive urban design ensures that urban water management is sensitive to natural hydrological and ecological cycles. It integrates urban planning with the management, protection and conservation of the urban water cycle.
Key principles of water-sensitive urban design
Water-sensitive design is captured within the broader context of integrated water cycle management in an urban setting. Meeting public health and sanitation needs, water-sensitive urban design will:
- minimise impact on existing natural features and ecological processes
- minimise impact on natural hydrologic behaviour of catchments
- protect water quality of surface and ground waters
- minimise demand on the reticulated water supply system
- improve the quality of and minimise polluted water discharges to the natural environment
- incorporate collection treatment and/or reuse of runoff, including roofwater and other stormwater
- reduce run-off and peak flows from urban development
- re-use treated effluent and minimise wastewater generation
- increase social amenity in urban areas through multi-purpose greenspace, landscaping and integrating water into the landscape to enhance visual, social, cultural and ecological values
- add value while minimising development costs (e.g. drainage infrastructure costs)
- account for the nexus between water use and wider social and resource issues
- harmonise water cycle practices across and within the institutions responsible for waterway health, flood management, pollution prevention and protection of social amenity.
Water-sensitive urban design and the NWI
There is a clear requirement for water-sensitive urban design and water-sensitive urban development in the National Water Initiative, which calls for:
- development of health and environmental guidelines for water sensitive design elements
- development of national guidelines for evaluating options for water sensitive urban developments in new urban sub-divisions and high-rise buildings
- evaluation of existing 'icon water sensitive urban developments'.