A Business Case for WSUD
A Business Case was prepared to determine if the benefit of applying water sensitive urban design techniques to achieve the stormwater management design objectives proposed through the Draft State Planning Policy for Healthy Waters are likely to outweigh the costs for typical development types. It considers quantitative and qualitative values of financial, environmental and social benefits and costs to determine the outcome on society as a whole.
Data was drawn from literature, semi-structured interviews and six case study assessments of typical development types in Queensland, including low density residential, high density residential, commercial and industrial . Each case study was analysed over four geographic regions – South East Queensland, Townsville, Cairns and Mackay.
This report provides the outcome of the Business Case, specifically:
- important contextual information, including the need for urban stormwater management, an explanation of WSUD and a brief overview of the draft policy (Section 2)
- an explanation of the assessment method (Section 3)
- an overview of the costs and benefits (Section 4)
- key findings from the assessment, including populated cost–benefit frameworks that communicate the social, environmental and financial costs and benefits of meeting the stormwater management design objectives for residential, commercial and industrial case studies (Section 5)
- a summary and conclusion (Section 6)
Click here to view the Queensland Government’s Draft State Planning Policy for Healthy Waters and supporting documentation.