Monday, 24 October 2011

The challenge of managing and recycling urban water supplies to create water-sensitive cities will be researched in a new node based at The University of Western Australia.

The Minister for Environment and Water, the Hon. Bill Marmion, will launch the Western Australian Node of the Monash University-led Cities as Water Supply Catchments Research Program at 6pm today in the Water Corporation's Derbarl Yerrigan Room at 629 Newcastle Street, Leederville, WA.

Stakeholders funding and participating in the node include the Department of Water, Water Corporation, Department of Housing, Swan River Trust, LandCorp, Armadale Redevelopment Authority, ChemCentre, Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, South East Regional Centre for Urban Landcare and 10 local government authorities.

The Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia, Professor Alan Robson, said the node's stakeholders were to be commended for taking on the important challenge of designing water-sensitive cities that will be resilient to the impacts of climate change and address the pressures of population growth.  He said the researchers would also aim to protect water environments while working towards ensuring liveable cities.

"We are very pleased that our State - and The University of Western Australia - is joining the Cities as Water Supply Catchments program, adding our research expertise to the 30 project partners across the nation," Professor Robson said.

The node at UWA will ensure that outcomes of the $20 million national program are adapted to suit WA conditions.  The locally based research group will address specific urban water management issues confronting WA.

The node will involve the appointment of an academic with expertise in urban water management, particularly in the context of Perth's sandy coastal plains.  Research will be guided by the recently released report Towards a water sensitive city - overview of the Stormwater Science Plan for better urban management (Department of Water 2010) .

The node leader, UWA's Winthrop Professor Carolyn Oldham, said the Monash-led research consortium at the Centre for Water Sensitive Cities had a track record of delivering industry-relevant science.

"Our Perth node will focus on ensuring that we build on this success, adapting it to WA conditions.  Among its first activities will be to assess the impact of stormwater management on the health of wetlands on the Swan Coastal Plain and to look at the performance of stormwater management systems under local conditions," Professor Oldham said.

Media references

Winthrop Professor Carolyn Oldham (+61 8)  6488 3531
(UWA School of Environmental Systems Engineering)
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783

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