Water Sensitive Urban Design - A Council Planners Perspective ?

1. Water Sensitive Urban Design -A Council Planners Perspective ? Mike Mouritz Director Environment & Planning Wollongong City Council examples from Kogarah

2. My talk today • To help set set the context • Consider the what, why, who and how of WSUD • Look at some examples • I hope to be a little provocative - push my barrow • Perspective based on my experiences • WSUD - term either loved or hated by practitioners and urban development community

3. Values and Urban Water Technology • No technology is value free • Technologies are politics in disguise, or the result of interplay of - politics - values - technical knowledge • Based on public health needs of 100 plus years ago • Notions from the “Enlightenment” & “modernist” traditions - • applied science could master then environment • economies of scale • human health much more important than ecological health

4. Sanitary Conditions

5. Floods Are Real

6. Problems with 19th Century Urban Water Management • Receiving waters cannot sustain organic loads and, especially nutrient loads from outfalls. • Urban creeks and wetlands are now valued inherently i.e. for their ecological and recreational qualities rather than their ability to channel or dilute wastes. • Stormwater from sprawling bitumen-based cities is excessive in quantity and quality. • Cost of “big pipes” infrastructure is becoming too high. • Water supply augmentation solutions are becoming economically and environmentally questionable. (Source: Newman & Mouritz 1994)

7. Times of Transition - The Shift is Occurring • Ecological integrity of urban and near waterways - (i.e. Brisbane River & Morton Bay) • CSIRO 1992 & recent reports - highlighting rethink of research priorities • World Water Vision & Framework for Action • Asset management & replacement challenge • “Why are we cracking up” - SMH - 25/7/00 • Ageing pipes and Murky Waters - NZ

8. Urban Policy is Shifting • More livable • More efficient in terms of land and infrastructure • More efficient in terms of energy and resource use • Even debate on “ecological footprint” (i.e. Sydney draws on 37 times it’s area)

9. Water-oriented Goals for a Sustainable City • Reduced import of water into cities. • Ocean and river outfalls made redundant. • Recycling of water for various urban and peri-urban uses. • Recycling of nutrients and organics. • Creeks and wetlands an integral part of city and managed for their ecological integrity. • Increased soft surfaces (and reduced urban sprawl) for stormwater retention. • Reduced requirements for large pipes. (Source: Newman and Mouritz 1994)

10. WSUD - Planning & Design Concept • Codify emerging values • Part of new paradigm • Optimise and integrate urban planning and management of urban water cycle • Range of scales and time horizons • “A more humble and unified way of conceiving the relationship between earth, water and human life” (Cosgrove 1990)

11. WSUD - a Tool for Catchment Repair • I mean “repair” not just management or “spinning wheels”. • Catchment repair is about leadership - “developing the path forward”. • Repair implies improvement. • Re-generative approach to stormwater - part of an urban ecology that is healing.

12. Vision of a Co-evolution of Human Settlements and Ecosystem Hard and soft technologies designed and applied to optimise the production /consumption system of the city in terms of health of regional ecosystem, as well as human health and welfare.

13. WSUD • Optimising the rain that falls on the city - water harvesting. • Reducing the amount of water imported into the city. • Optimising water balance and flood management. • Improving water quality. • Incorporating water related social & ecological objectives. • Spirit of the water.

14. The WSUD Guidelines • Menu of best planning and best management practices. • Research and consultancy projects illustrated the viability and potential. • But some got the perception it was just about swales and wetlands • “Treatment trains” - hard and soft solutions. • Even linking art, architecture, technology and ecology. • Recipes - design manuals being developed (Marino Evangilisti & Tony Wong in WA).

15. The Ideal - a Policy Framework of Agreed: • Urban design / planning outcomes • Environmental objectives • Water resource objectives • Plus design and approval process that support these • Design teams that know how to innovate

16. Concept is Evolving - developing meaning of its own • Because it can capture the imagination of practitioners & developers. • Inspired by Tony Wong and others in developing water quality design tools. • Water harvesting practice and analysis of John Argue, Peter Coombes, George Kuczera. • Realising distributed systems envisioned by Richard Clark and others in scenario work.

17. In a Wider Context • Consistent with best European & US & Japanese practice. • i.e. - “New Ways with Rainwater” Gieger & Dreiseitl. • Within a more academic / discipline development context. • Part of ecological conditions / opportunities approach - rather than constraints approach. • Consistent with labels like ecosystem planning, ecological design, ecotechnologies. • About linking ecological planning/design with ecological engineering.

18. Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz

19. Integrated design

20. Overcoming Barriers - Examples • Two Urban Renewal • Allawah • Kogarah Town Square • DCP Controls • Two Wetland • Moore Reserve

21. Kogarah Town Centre Allawah Moore Reserve Carss Park Location Map

22. Allawah -The Design Proposed: • Solar passive design and natural ventilation which would theoretically save 70% energy on comparable development. • Rainwater reuse for irrigation, toilet flushing. • 38 of the 42 bathrooms and car washing saves 600, 000 l/year. • Stormwater & flood control coupled to landscape and sub-surface treatment proposed to treat 93% of run-off.

23. Water Achievements • Treatment of up to 1:3 month flood control. • Rainwater for irrigation, car washing, toilet flushing for 38 or 42 bathrooms. EQUALS • 600,000 litres of potable water saved. • 93% of stormwater treated to tertiary standard.

24. Passive Solar & Ventilation

25. What We Learnt • It can be done … and is cost effective … on paper. • Some of the Councillors believed we lost $$$ on the land sale. • The developers bought without looking - but looked for modification during construction. • Half the job - modifications where approved by others, so much of the innovation was lost. • The development controls set the value land; what can be built and how, • Councils can/should build in the controls to get the outcomes they are looking for. • Confidence to implement firm stormwater controls in our normal Development Controls.

26. Kogarah Town Square • 10,000 m2 site, where a mixed-use complex • Approximately 3000m2 retail and commercial, 190 apartments, • A 1400m2 public library and underground public parking. • New Town Square • Best practice urban and environmental design features - Solar Kogarah & WSUD

27. partnerships HIGHTRADE kogarah the vibrant alternative Cultivate opportunities

28. Environmental design large livable terraces bathrooms and kitchens located on external walls cross ventilation high thermal mass active street edges kogarah the vibrant alternative space and light and air

29. Integrated design outcome kogarah the vibrant alternative Aspiring for quality

30. Water System Design

31. Water System Design Objectives • detention - flood control • conservation • treatment - receiving waters • awareness - public awareness • aesthetics - quality of design & construction Design Principles • fit for purpose • recycling • minimise treatment • design to match objectives Design Criteria • structural implications • buildability • maintainability • cost effectiveness - avoidance of duplication

32. Surface Areas “Clean” “Dirty”

33. Private Terraces 770 sqm All Roofs 5172 sqm Landscape courts 1497 sqm Town square 1257 sqm GPT Screen/ silt trap Screen/silt trap Control tank at high level Control tank at high level Potable water top-up Balance Main Storage 1- clean Main Storage 2- dirty OKeefes Lane Irrigation Filter / disinfection Toilet flush+ Carwash Water Feature Control pit Pump/sump Sewer Stormwater Flows

34. Kogarah - its happening

35. Moore Reserve • 14.2 ha • Rubbish tip until late 1970’s • 2 square kilometre catchment • Ecological restoration strategy • off line wetland • leachate treatment • bushland restoration • recreation • investigated landfill • Consultation

36. Moore Reserve Masterplan - version 1

37. Artist impression that went wrong

38. Agreed Masterplan • Funds from Stormwater Trust • Georges River Foreshore trust • Council

39. Moore Reserve Wetland Construction

40. Kogarah DCP Controls - Objectives • Manage flooding • Pollution prevention • Encourage reuse • Minimise changes to natural hydrology • Cost effective stormwater systems • Establish standards

41. Impervious Surface area - the main control

42. Techniques

44. Other techniques

45. Funding Catchment Repair • Challenge of delivering Stormwater management plans • Significant scale - no mechanism to implement across Sydney • Kogarah $10 million - first phase • 50,000 people, 18,000 households • Scaled up to Sydney - $700 Million to $1Billion • Threshold problems need bold political responses

46. The Funding / Policy Proposal • Establish ‘institutional arrangement’ - councils and/or trusts and/utilities to borrow at state government loan rates. • Create a “loan pool” of up to $1 Billion for long term - low interest public infrastructure financing endorsed by the Treasury. • Establish a “catchment repair” levy collected by councils / trusts. • Implement community agreed catchment repair plans.

47. Back of envelope calculations • Borrow $700 million @ 6% over 30 years with monthly repayments of $ 4,196,854 per month. • Sydney's population of 4 million people with average household size 2.7/household equates to a rate-base of 1,476,564 households. Therefore, monthly repayment per household is approximately = $2.84/hsld/mth. Allowing for exempting for low income - under $1 per week per household.

48. Catchment repair service as business opportunity • Stream restoration, flood management, open space improvement, localised water harvesting. • May also become a developer - to redevelop areas along drains. • Outcome higher quality housing and living steams. • In new subdivisions integrated water services - water / waste/ compost/vegetation management. • Might sell nutrient rich water and feed stock into eco-industrial cluster.

49. Identifying Barriers • “Green technologies”- hindered by technical, economic, institutional barriers. • New “artifacts” don’t fit the selection environment / institutions which supports old regime. • “Power relationships” often hinder innovation - usually professionals and their bureaucracies - change is slow if not cultivated.

50. Impediments • Physical mismatch • Know-how mismatch • Financial • Institutional inertia • Lack of community acceptability • Political • World -views/belief systems