What: 5th Water Sensitive Cities Conference - virtual site tours

When: 15 March 2021

Water Sensitive Practice. Every city. Every day

You’ll head out on site virtually to see the site's key features and how they operate. Each site tour includes a live Q&A session. Join as many site tours as you like.

Check your local program for times of the live Q&A sessions.

Tour 1 – Aquarevo Development, Victoria
This unique residential development comprises homes that include innovative water saving features. On this tour, find out how South East Water’s OneBox®+ controller can manage and monitor sensors, irrigation and misting to cool the landscape and mitigate urban heat. Sensors will monitor ambient temperature, ambient light intensity, relative humidity, soil moisture and soil temperature. The research is investigating whether it’s cheaper to cool our cities with water, rather than electricity.

Tour 2 – Bendigo Creek, Victoria
Bendigo Creek is being transformed as a priority project of Water Sensitive Bendigo, the cross-agency partnership responsible for progressing Bendigo’s transition to its water sensitive future. This important project demonstrates how integrating Traditional Owner knowledge with water sensitive design can help restore cultural, social and environmental values to a degraded urban creek. Projects like Wanyarram Dhelk provide an evidence base for practitioners, helping to influence practice and promote adoption.

Tour 3 – Yarrabilba Development, Queensland
This significant residential development in Logan will be Australia’s first circular economy community—with water as the enabler. The goal is to create and complete a world’s best practice water sensitive street. The design incorporates stormwater quality and food management measures (constructed wetlands, bioretention basins and sediment ponds) into public open spaces and linear parks, improving water quality and providing a transitional landscape from highly urban to retained vegetation corridors.

Tour 4 – East Village Development, Western Australia
East Village at Knutsford (Fremantle) highlights a new residential development that is setting a new benchmark for sustainable living. The development comprises sustainable homes and green spaces that are both productive and cooling. Architecturally designed townhouses feature a rooftop solar PV array and underground rainwater tanks. Shared and public spaces are irrigated using stormwater and rainfall collected via permeable paving, raingardens and swales. The project is recognised as a global leader in sustainability by the One Planet Living® program.

Tour 5 – Wharf Street Wetlands, Western Australia
Wharf Street bio basin demonstrates how converting a stormwater drain into a new multifunctional smart park unlocked a hectare of open space in the heart of Canning. The park features a community wetland and park, and extensively integrates smart technology for greater resource efficiency and community wellbeing. It is a place to relax, a habitat for wildlife, and an education space where visitors can learn more about water. The high-tech inclusions allow the City of Canning to extract important data for maintaining bins and park lighting, timing irrigation to when the park trees need watering, and managing stormwater and public safety.

Tour 6 – Unity Park biofilters, wetlands and MAR scheme, South Australia
Unity Park explores the biofilter, constructed wetlands and managed aquifer recharge system that is managing stormwater and providing an alternative water source. The wetlands and biofilter capture and treat stormwater before it is stored in underground aquifers. Over 150 km of ‘purple pipe’ then distributes the water, which is used to irrigate parks, reserves, and schools. It is also used in industry and for toilet/garden use in some new residential developments.