Water by Design

Ekostaden Augustenborg (Ecocity Augustenborg)

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:57:47 +0000

Augustenborg was the first public housing estate constructed by the City of Malmö (Sweden) between 1948-1952. At that time, the suburb incorporated modern design, making it an attractive place to live. By the 1980’s Augustenborg had gone into decline. Sparked by investment from the Swedish Government’s Local Investment Program, a project was started to rejuvenate the area. To date, significant on ground works have improved local drainage, reduced heat during summer, improved biodiversity (increased 50%), reduced environmental footprint of the area (decreased by 20%), and most importantly of all has built significant social capital. This has in turn reduced turnover in residential tenancies by 50%.

Community engagement for SuDs in Portland Oregon

Andrew O'Neill — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:01:28 +0000

Community engagement for SuDs in Portland Oregon

This case study used novel community engagement techniques and economic instruments to foster sustainable urban water management in the catchment of the Willamette River. Thanks to the good people at CIRIA, UK, for compiling the case study and allowing us to publish it here for our members. For anyone who’s ever wondered what the community think of retrofit streetscape raingardens, check out the creative consultation approach pictured on the last page of this case study.

CIRIA briefing Portland SuDS May12

Download (350 kb)

Transferring Ownership of Vegetated Stormwater Assets

Andrew O'Neill — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:33:16 +0000

This document provides guidance on how to transfer vegetated stormwater assets from the constructing party, typically the developer, to the long-term owners and managers of the assets, typically the local authority or a private entity (such as a body corporate). This is so that owners inherit assets that are functioning properly and that are meeting their design intent. It provides information, processes, and checklists to assist with each stage of the handover process. It covers swales, bioretention systems, constructed wetlands, and sediment basins.

Transferring Ownership of Vegetated Stormwater Assets

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Also in this series: Maintaining Vegetated Stormwater Assets and Rectifying Vegetated Stormwater Assets

Rectifying Vegetated Stormwater Assets

Andrew O'Neill — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:28:50 +0000

Rectifying Vegetated Stormwater Assets provides guidance on how to rectify under-performing or failing vegetated stormwater assets. It sets out a process for determining whether to rectify an asset, provides guidance on how to determine the cause of problems, and lists possible solutions.

Rectifying Vegetated Stormwater Assets

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Also in this series: Maintaining vegetated Stormwater Assets and Transferring Ownership of Vegetated Stormwater Assets

Maintaining Vegetated Stormwater Assets

Andrew O'Neill — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:41:34 +0000

This document helps asset managers and maintenance staff by providing practical and standardised advice for maintaining swales, bioretention systems, constructed wetlands, and sediment basins. It provides information on planning and undertaking maintenance, as well as checklists for recording the results of inspections and maintenance activities undertaken. Those who design and approve vegetated stormwater assets can also use this document as a reference to help deliver more maintenance friendly assets.

Maintaining Vegetated Stormwater Assets

Download (4 mb)

Also in this series: Rectifying Vegetated Stormwater Assets and Transferring Ownership of Vegetated Stormwater Assets

Urban Lakes Discussion Paper

Andrew O'Neill — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:54:06 +0000

South-East Queensland (SEQ) now has a large number of artificial waterbodies or “urban lakes” which were designed and built to support new urban development. A growing body of knowledge amongst local government authorities (LGAs) in SEQ indicates that urban lakes experience water quality problems often leading to excessive algal growth or blooms, particularly of cyanobacteria. This is often a major management issue for constructed urban lakes and maintenance and rectification places a significant burden on LGAs in SEQ.

The rapid growth of cyanobacteria under optimal growth conditions means that cyanobacterial populations can rapidly reach bloom concentrations. Cyanobacterial blooms adversely impact lake ecosystems and reduce public amenity and aesthetics. A wide range of management strategies are currently used to control cyanobacterial blooms in lake ecosystems, such as in-lake sediment treatments, physical in-lake measures, biological control and algicides.

This document provides a review of the potential effectiveness of manipulating lake retention times and other measures to reduce the risk of cyanobacterial growth in freshwater urban lakes.

Urban Lakes Discussion Paper
Download (PDF 1.2 MB)

Fourth Generation Water: A Vision for Water in South East Queensland

Sarah Jones — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 06:28:17 +0000

Join Water by Design for an afternoon information and networking session with Professor Stuart White, the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures.

When: Friday 9th September 2011, 3.30pm to 5.30pm

Where: Christie Conference Centre, Mayflower Room, Level 1, 320 Adelaide St, Brisbane City

Outline

Over the last decade the need for effective urban water planning has become more critical due to severe droughts, flooding, increases in costs and environmental pressures.

Over this time, a number of planning frameworks have developed to deal with this emerging situation. Professor Stuart White proposes that we are on the verge of a fourth generation of urban water service provision.

Professor White will propose how the history of water management can inform water management and planning in South East Queensland, and discuss changes in the role of the water industry and the participation of the community in decision-making.

Presenter

Professor Stuart White is Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures where he leads a team of researchers who create change towards sustainable futures through independent, project-based research. With over twenty years experience in sustainability research, Professor White’s work focuses on achieving sustainability outcomes at least cost for a range of government, industry and community clients across Australia and internationally. This includes the design and evaluation of programs for improving resource use efficiency and an assessment of their impact. Professor White has written and presented widely on sustainable futures and is a regular commentator on sustainability issues in the media.

Professor White has undertaken research in the area of urban water, water efficiency, least-cost planning in the water industry, and distributed water systems since 1992. He was the editor and main author of the first Water Services Association of Australia’s Guide to Demand Management for Water Utilities. In 2001, he lead a project to develop the principles and application of least-cost planning, end-use analysis, and demand management for water service provision in the planning and operations of Brisbane City Council and Brisbane Water.

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Where’s my document?

alanhoban — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 06:36:26 +0000

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Check that the confirmation email didn’t go to one of your colleagues (sometimes guidelines are ordered by admin staff or sometimes people use a generic company email address).
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Total Water Cycle Management Planning

Karen Harmsworth — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 06:45:19 +0000

Local governments in South East Queensland are required by the Environmental Protection (Water) Policy (2009) of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 to develop and start implementing a Total Water Cycle Management (TWCM) Plan before 1 July 2012. The policy states that when local governments plan and implement their TWCM Plans, they ‘must have regard to guidelines published by the department about total water cycle management’. This document is the ‘guideline’ the policy refers to—it outlines a process to develop and implement a TWCM Plan. If a TWCM Plan is satisfactorily prepared in accordance with the guideline, it will comply with the EPP (Water) 2009 requirements.

Total Water Cycle Management Planning Guideline
Download (PDF 4 MB)

Trouble downloading? Try right clicking on the above link (ctrl click on mac) and select ‘Save Target As’, then select the preferred download destination.

Draft Development Conditions: Bioretention

Karen Harmsworth — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 23:16:29 +0000

Water by Design has prepared draft development conditions for you to consider when assessing development applications. As most development applications need to be considered in the context of the proposed development, you should use your discretion in applying them.

Share your ideas and experiences in using these draft development conditions by providing comments via the Water by Design forum. Comments will be used to update the conditions to reflect changes in policy, design and practice.

These draft development conditions are for bioretention systems given the large number of systems being designed and constructed.

Download Draft Development Conditions: Engineering
Download Draft Development Conditions: Landscape