Towards a water sensitive city Stormwater science seminar
Research priorities
Priority 1: Evaluate the characteristics of urban catchments
Priority 2: Impact of urban catchments on receiving environments & ecological health
Priority 3: Effectiveness & efficiency of stormwater management practices
Priority 4: Coordinated ecological and water quality and quantity monitoring
Priority 5: Predictive modelling to improve urban planning
The Overview of the Stormwater science plan for better urban water management was launched by the Minister for Water, the Hon Dr Graham Jacobs at the event. The plan outlines a way forward to address the knowledge gaps currently hindering adoption of better stormwater management practices in Western Australia and was developed as part of a partnership between the department, Water Corporation and CSIRO. The research priorities highlighted in the plan (see above box) were identified at stakeholder workshops in 2007 and 2008.
The 150 delegates attending the seminar also heard presentations about:
- Contaminants in urban drains and their impacts on river health
- Performance and design of intervention techniques, including biofilters, soil amendments and constructed wetlands
- Tools available to assist urban water planning and assessment
Key learnings from the seminar for stormwater science and practice included:
- Soil amendment and stormwater biofilters are highly effective technologies, however they must be designed appropriately for site specific conditions
- Managing stormwater at source and disconnecting urban catchments restores ecological values of waterways and wetlands
- No single intervention measure will treat all nutrient forms – a combination of methods is required
- Science can be transferrable – systems can be adapted to local climates and conditions
- Better understanding of groundwater is critical for Western Australia
- Strong partnerships between government, research organisations and industry are required to work towards water sensitive cities
- Coordinated monitoring and science is required to support development of tools, criteria and guidelines
Please click on the links below for files
The Seminar presentations and audio files are located here.
The Draft Overview of the stormwater science plan for better urban water management is found here and the program and abstracts can be found here.