WaterSensitive Urban Design: A Tool for Urban Integrated Catchment Management

ACase Study of Bayswater

ReportNo WSAA 117

March 1997

SYNOPSIS

Thedocument has been prepared as a case study report within a wider project titledSustainable Urban Water Systems research project funded by UWRAA and undertakenat the Institute for Science and Technology Policy, Murdoch University.

Thisproject has paralleled the development of the concept of Water Sensitive UrbanDesign which has developed in Perth, Western Australia. The Water SensitiveUrban Design was initiated originally by the Western Australian Water ResourcesCouncil and has since been supported by the then Water Authority of WesternAustralia, the Department of Planning and Urban Development and the EnvironmentalProtection Authority. These agencies combined their resources and withadditional funding from the Commonwealth Government and commissioned thepreparation of the WSUD Guidelines.

Anothertwo documents have been prepared as part of this research project – titled:

An Evaluation of anIntegrated Water Management System:

Palmyra Case Study

Sustainable Urban WaterSystems: Issues and Opportunities

Boththis document and the Palmyra Case study provide examples of an emergingapproach to the integration of land and water management in the urban context.The ‘issues and opportunities’ document sets out the wider context of thechanges taking place in the urban water sector. The case study documents shouldbe seen as part of growing body of research and consultancy projects which usethe ‘emerging’ approach of Water Sensitive Urban Design. For example theconcepts developed in these projects have been applied at a strategic level tothe planning of the South East Corridor of Perth in a project for the WaterAuthority of Western Australia and the Department of Planning and UrbanDevelopment – titled:

Stormwater ManagementStrategy and Plans for Byford & Mundijong: incorporating Water SensitiveDesign Principles – prepared by Evangelisti and Associates andLandvision Pty Ltd.

Thisapproach has also been applied to an area undergoing redevelopment for the Cityof Canning, a metropolitan local authority of Perth in a project titled:

From Drains To LivingStreams: Canning River Integrated Local Area Planning Study –

prepared by MouritzEnvironmental Services, Evangelisti and Associates Landivision Pty Ltd andThompson Palmer Pty Ltd.

Whileall of this work is in a positive direction it remains to be seen if the ideaspresented in these documents and the evolving praxis represent a new paradigm –only history will tell.

Copiesof the Report are available from WSAA, price $A60. Orders may be placed throughthe Bookshop at www.wsaa.asn.au or by email to info@wsaa.asn.au.