Urban Water research is providing the innovative science and technology solutions to help Australia's cities transition to more sustainable water management.

Urban Water: addressing Australia's urban water challenges

As one of four research areas within the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, the Urban Water Theme aims to enable the mainstream adoption of innovative, integrated and sustainable water management for Australia’s cities.

• 18 March 2011 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Background
• The water challenge
• Science to address these challenges
• Achievements
• Partnerships 

Background

With an expected 50 per cent increase in urban population by 2050, providing safe, reliable and sustainable water services for Australia’s cities is a major challenge for the 21st century.

As cities expand, the demand for water, energy, land, materials and food will increase, as will the generation of waste streams, stormwater runoff, the flow of nutrients and chemical contamination. These environmental pressures will be exacerbated by climate change.

The transition of Australia’s cities to more sustainable models of urban water management requires innovative science and technology solutions. The Water for a Healthy Country Flagship’s Urban Water Research Theme aims to contribute to the creation of healthier, more liveable Australian cities.

Australia's urban water challenges

The considerable challenges facing Australia’s urban water sector include:

• water security in a changing climate – climate change and population growth indicate our cities face increasing water availability uncertainty

  New approaches to urban water management are required to address the increasing constraints on water availability and impacts of urbanisation.
• managing diverse sources of supply – optimising the management and provision of safe, reliable, fit for purpose water supplies from a range of water sources
• resource efficiency – reducing the carbon footprint of urban water supply and use, and recovering energy and nutrients from wastewater
• healthy water environments – urbanisation places increasing ecological stress on our waterways and wetland systems
• aging infrastructure – maintenance and management of our aging water infrastructure will continue to increase
• people and institutions – governments need to establish appropriate governance, institutional and pricing structures to encourage innovation without compromising social and environmental outcomes.

Science to address these challenges

CSIRO is providing the research to assist government, industry and communities to address these challenges.

Our research is focused in seven key areas:

Urban Water: Integrated Water Systems Analysis

Helping to identify viable and sustainable strategies for integrated urban water management through whole-of-system analysis.

Urban Water: Recycling and Diversified Supply

Improving our knowledge, quantifying the risks, and underpinning governance options to facilitate the use of recycled stormwater and wastewater.

Urban water: distributed systems

We are providing the scientific rationale for the mainstream adoption of safe and reliable distributed water systems, from household to development scale.

Urban water: advanced water treatment

CSIRO is developing advanced treatment technologies for water, wastewater and stormwater to reduce the carbon footprint of the water industry.

Urban water: sustainable asset management

CSIRO is delivering tools and knowledge that allow water utilities to optimise their investment in infrastructure.

Urban water: intelligent networks

CSIRO is improving sensor network technologies to optimise integrated urban water systems management and the quality and reliability of water service delivery.

Urban Water: Urban Water Environments

Understanding the behaviour of contaminants in urban water environments and developing advanced techniques for contaminant monitoring and remediation so as to mitigate impacts.

Achievements

Some highlights from the Urban Water Theme include:

Managed aquifer recharge: turning wastewater into a resource

A Water for a Healthy Country Flagship project has helped to secure Australia’s water future through managed aquifer recharge.

PARMS-Planning: protecting our pipelines

CSIRO’s Pipeline Asset and Risk Management System (PARMS-Planning) is a new suite of software tools that assists water utilities in analysing the costs associated with pipeline infrastructure and make informed asset and risk management decisions.

Advancing knowledge on water sensitive urban design

CSIRO scientists have conducted a study on the 'ICON Water Sensitive Urban Developments' for the National Water Commission. Researchers identified knowledge gaps and main barriers in the implementation and uptake of these developments.

Microbes turn the heat up on groundwater cleanup

While investigating ways of cleaning up groundwater contamination, CSIRO researchers have discovered that micro-organisms which normally assist the remediation process can actually get too hot for their own good.

Sustainability assessment framework of alternative urban water and sewerage services

CSIRO scientists have developed an innovative sustainability assessment framework that evaluates the different options for providing water and sewerage services to urban greenfield developments.

Water parcel tracking through fingerprint checking

A Water for a Healthy Country Flagship project has developed an alternative approach to track water movement through distribution systems.

Partnerships

The Urban Water Flagship Theme collaborates with a wide range of Australian and international research partners to increase the impact of our research, including:

• National Water Commission
• Water Foundation (WA)
• Victorian Smart Water Fund
• South Australian Government
• ACT Government
• ACTEW
• NSW Government
• eWater Cooperative Research Centre (CRC)
• National Centre of Excellence in Desalination
• Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence
• Australian water utilities in all states
• Water Services Association of Australia
• BP
• Alcoa
• Water Research Foundation (USA)
• Water Environment Research Foundation (USA)
• European Union (EU)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• AusAID
• Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) India.

Our researchers have key roles in major water research initiatives, including:

• South East Queensland Urban Water Security Research Alliance – an A$50 million research alliance focused on water security and recycling.
• Goyder Institute for Water Research – an A$50 million water research institute in South Australia.
• Flagship Collaboration Fund Advanced Membrane Cluster – an A$7.6 million collaboration with nine universities to develop low energy demand membranes for water purification.

Find out more about the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship.