The workshop will feature insights into stormwater harvesting guidelines, latest research on the performance of stormwater treatment technologies, conceptual design and costs associated with stormwater harvesting systems. The course will include practical design exercises to develop the conceptual design of a stormwater harvesting system for a (i) greenfield and (ii) retrofit situation.

To find more and register, please click here.

But the Black Saturday fires in Victoria weren’t the biggest killers in the 2009 heatwave – the urban heat island effect was. Monash University professor Nigel Tapper said the preceding week of soaring temperatures led to 374 additional deaths in Melbourne, more than double the 173 killed in the fires. “In Melbourne, 30C is a well-defined mean threshold,” Tapper told the 7th International Conference on Water Sensitive Urban Design.

Above that mean daily temperature – which implies 40C during the day, 20C at night – and vulnerable people are in the danger zone. Deaths among over 64-year-olds, for example, jump by around 17 per cent. Tapper has satellite mapped Melbourne temperatures postcode by postcode and found the CBD is around 4C hotter than the surrounding suburbs.

Click here to read the full article.

Most environment and sustainability awards go to organisations, but truth be known it is the champions within them who should be recognised. It is the individual who went the extra yards, who inspired those around them, who had the audacity to hope for something beyond business as usual.

That is the premise for the biennial WME Leaders List awards. Now it’s your choice. (Voting closes May 22. One vote only per category). You can support them by voting here.

Click here to listen to the broadcast.

The scientists involved say the pioneering collaboration will help set the parameters of current and future water research for application worldwide.

Click here to download broadcast.

In addition to the many presentations, five international and national specialists kindly presented keynote addresses covering five diverse but interrelated disciplines contributing to the creation of water sensitive communities. The conference program also included a number of very successful pre- and post-conference workshops, technical tours and social functions.

As the host organisation, the Centre for Water Sensitive Cities had a very strong presence at this conference with 29 papers presented (see list below).

Many participants commented on the exceptional quality of the conference and congratulations should go to Prof Tony Wong and Dr David McCarthy (Chair and Deputy Chair, respectively) for the organisation of this conference.

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Selected photos of the conference (conference attendees will shortly receive more photos of the conference):

List of papers presented by members of the Centre for Water Sensitive Cities at the WSUD2012 conference:

• Adamowicz R.C. and Johnstone P. (2012) The relationship between the Liveable City and Water Sensitive Urban Design. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• D’Argent N.M.J., Beringer J., Tapper N.J. and Coutts A.M (2012) Planning for the Compact City; An assessment of Melbourne @ 5million. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Bettini Y., Farrelly M., de Haan F.J. and Brown R.R. (2012) Achieving Water Sensitive Cities: Institutions as building blocks of collective action. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Bos J.J., Brown R.R., Farrelly M.A. and de Haan F.J. (2012) Governance experimentation: a descriptive analysis of translating sustainable urban water management in practice. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Broadbent A.M., Beringer J., Coutts A.M. and Tapper N.J. (2012) Micro-climate variability across a mixed development suburb with water sensitive urban design. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Burns M.J., Fletcher T.D., Duncan H.P., Hatt B.E., Ladson A.R. and Walsh C.J. (2012) The stormwater retention performance of rainwater tanks at the landparcel scale. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Chandrasena G.I., Filip S., Zhang K., Osborne C.A., Deletic A. and McCarthy D.T. (2012) Pathogen and indicator microorganism removal in field scale stormwater biofilters. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Demuzere M. and Coutts A.M. (2012) Application of urban climate modelling for assessment of WSUD. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Dobbie M.F. and Brown R.R. (2012) Risky business? Risk perceptions of water practitioners towards stormwater harvesting and treatment systems in Australian cities. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Ellerton J.P., Hatt B.E. and Fletcher T.D. (2012) Mixed plantings of Carex appressa and Lomandra longifolia improve pollutant removal over a monoculture of L. longifolia in stormwater biofilters. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Farrelly M.A., Rijke J. and Brown R.R. (2012) Exploring operational attributes of governance for change. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Ferguson B.C., de Haan F.J., Brown R.R. and Deletic A. (2012) Testing a Strategic Action Framework: Melbourne’s Transition to WSUD. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Fratini C.F., Brown R.R., Elle M., Jensen M.B. and Mikkelsen P.S. (2012) Corporatization of the water sector: Implications for transitioning to sustainable urban water management. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Glaister B., Fletcher T.D.. Cook P.L.M. and Hatt B.E. (2012) Advancing biofilter design for co-optimised nitrogen and phosphorus removal. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Hamel P., Fletcher T.D., Daly E. and Beringer J. (2012) Water retention by raingardens: implications for local-scale soil moisture and water fluxes. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Kandra H.S., Deletic A. and McCarthy D.T. (2012) Impact of filter design variables on clogging in stormwater filters. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
  
• Li Y.L., Deletic A. and McCarthy D.T. (2012) Removal and inactivation of E. coli from water using copper modified natural zeolite. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Lizama Allende K., Fletcher T. D., and Sun G. (2012) Subsurface flow constructed wetlands for the removal of arsenic and metals from acidic contaminated water. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Loughnan M., Coutts A.M., Tapper N.J. and Beringer J. (2012) Identifying summer temperature ranges for human thermal comfort in two Australian cities. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Nice K.A. and Isaac P. (2012) The micro-climate of a mixed urban parkland environment. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Pham T., Payne E.G., Fletcher T.D., Cook P.L., Deletic A. and Hatt B.E. (2012) The influence of vegetation in stormwater biofilters on infiltration and nitrogen removal: preliminary findings. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Poustie M., Brown R.R., Deletic A., de Haan F.J. (2012) Institutional barriers to advancing Sustainable Urban Water Management in Port Vila, Vanuatu. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Rijke J., Farrelly M.A., Brown R.R. and Zevenbergen C. (2012) Creating water sensitive cities in Australia: the strengths and weaknesses of current governance approaches. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Roberts S.J., Fletcher T.D., Gernett L. and Deletic A. (2012) Bioretention saturated zones: do they work at the large-scale? 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Schang C., Osborne C.A., Deletic A., Cook P.L. and McCarthy D.T. (2012) Survival of pathogenic and faecal indicator bacteria in the bed and bank sediments of the Yarra River estuary, Australia. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Yong C.F. and Deletic A. (2012) Factors that Predict Clogging through Porous Pavements. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Yu C., Farrelly M.A. and Brown R.R. (2012) Revealing the Variables in the Management of Decentralised Water Systems in Australia. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Zhang K.F., Filip S., Chandrasena G.I., McCarthy D.T., Daly E., Pham T., Kolotelo P. and Deletic A. (2012) Micro-pollutant removal in stormwater biofilters: a preliminary understanding from 3 challenge tests. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF
• Zinger Y., Blecken G.T., Fletcher T.D. and Viklander M. (2012) Retrofitting a Saturated Zone (RSAZ) in stormwater biofilters: impact on pollutants removal. 7th international WSUD conference, Melbourne, Australia, February 21-23, 2012. Link to PDF

“Can Water Sensitive Urban Design as espoused in the water sensitive city help and perhaps gain us some ‘head room’ against unavoidable climate change? Many of us increasingly believe yes,” noted Prof Tapper in his presentation on the role of WSUD in improving urban microclimate in cities .

To read the full article about Nigel’s presentation in BEN-global, please follow this link.

Six out of 26 applications were successful, including the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities which will receive $30 Million worth of Government funding.

Congratulations to all!

Please follow this link to view the media release
Further details on successful applicants are available on an information fact sheet.

Links to media appearances:

• Dec 12, 2011: Q & A with Prof Tony Wong, Director and Chief Executive of the Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (Monash Research Office Bulletin)
• Dec 2, 2011: Stemming the flow of Urban Water Challenges (Monash University News)

Future Fellowships, created by the Australian Government in 2008, aim to promote research in areas of critical national importance by giving outstanding mid-career researchers incentives to conduct their research in Australia (ARC website). Prof Jason Beringer’s project will determine savanna function (carbon and water balance) for the present and assess how sensitive they have been to past climate variability. The project will then address how they may respond to future climate change.

Congratulations Jason!!