Integrated Partnership: Whole of Water Cycle Management; Healthy Country; Water-sensitive Cities
The combination of water scarcity (in drought years) and increasing water demand due to increasing population has placed great pressure on our freshwater resources and the ecosystems which are dependent on them.
The water cycle has been drastically altered from our historical and “conventional” depiction of the water cycle (with forested catchments, regular rainfall, average water demands, sufficient environmental flows) to the present “unconventional” one (little or no rainfall, novel water harvesting technologies such as wastewater reuse, desalination plants, stormwater capture, and dramatically reduced environmental flows).
The need for whole of water cycle management is crucial to ensure that waterways are managed for the people and the environment on which they are dependent on. The connection to land practices to waterways health is the basis for a Healthy Country program, whereby tools are being developed for spatial optimisation of land management practices to ensure the protection and improvement of waterways.
The water-sensitive cities vision aims to have cities as supply catchments, including a diversity of sources, use and delivery options, resilience and adaptivity of the city and water management as part of an integrated system; “cities providing ecosystem services”; and “water-smart cities”.
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A conceptual Diagram highlighting the importance of maintaining water quality - a key aspect of waterway health, and a key benefit of healthy aquatic ecosystem in ensuring long-term security of water supplies in South East Queensland. Click on the image for a larger PDF version (1.3MB) 