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ArrayCity of Melbourne Total Watermark: City as a Catchment
15/04/2009
City of Melbourne's Total Watermark is an example of a strategy which establishes water conservation and water quality targets based on the vision of a 'water sensitive city'.
The City of Melbourne has made significant progress in adopting water sensitive urban design (WSUD) techniques that conserve, re-use and recycle water, and manage the quality of stormwater runoff. This document goes further by setting a water balance which qualifies all 'sinks' and 'sources' for city, as well as a pollutant balance that identifies loads from impermeable surfaces.
The City of Melbourne has combined this pollutant balance with an objective to use stormwater harvesting to meet a substantial portion of municipal water demands. The result is a considerable reduction in both pollutant runoff to waterways and consumption of drinking-quality water. This strategy outlines an approach that will be of great use to other local governments and water management authorities across Australia.
