Background

Across Australia and internationally it has become increasingly accepted that current approaches to urban water management are resulting in unacceptable outcomes (such as degraded catchments and waterways, vulnerability to water scarcity, high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, lack of community involvement).

There is now widespread agreement about the need to facilitate a major transition in the way water is managed in cities.

The National Urban Water Governance Program (NUWGP) at Monash University has recently completed a 3 year research project investigating the institutional barriers to sustainable urban water management as well as the governance factors required to transition to Water Sensitive Cities in Australia.

The research by Associate Professor Rebekah Brown and her team highlights the lack of suitable institutional capacity as the most significant issue preventing a transition. Insufficient skills and knowledge, organisational resistance, unsuitable institutional arrangements and policy failure, lack of political will, limited regulatory incentives, and lack of a common vision are identified as some of the institutional capacity issues.

There is great opportunity currently in Australia to begin addressing some of these problems. The research has identified a series of factors required to transition to Water Sensitive Cities. Some of the transition factors include socio-political capital, bridging organisations, trusted and reliable science, scientifically informed binding targets, clear accountability, strategic funding points, demonstration projects and training, market receptivity, champions, and a common vision.

Urban water governance systems are currently in a state of significant change, opening up a window of opportunity to move towards more sustainable practices. It will be important that this opportunity is harnessed by developing processes that lead to debate and the creation of a common vision for sustainable cities with a focus on water (and energy). This can only be achieved through the active engagement of the scientific, practitioner and political communities.

Workshops

In February 2009 approximately 500 water practitioners from local and state, national government, non-government, water utilities, private industry and research institutions attended one of five, two-day interactive events organised by the International WaterCentre and National Urban Water Governance Program, Monash University. The workshops were deigned to:

• effectively disseminate leading edge findings from a range of research programs being conducted by Monash University's National Urban Water Governance Program
• enhance the capacity of water practitioners and their organisations to transition towards a more sustainable 'water sensitive city' through facilitated 'inquiry' sessions and conversations
• develop a shared understanding of a 'water sensitive' city might look like and the associated barriers and opportunities for achieving this outcome.