Key concepts for Integrated Urban Water Management infrastructure planning: Lessons from Melbourne

Abstract

“Integrated Urban Water Management plans” consider all water services simultaneously to determine optimal infrastructure solutions. They create many benefits, including unlocking opportunities for water reuse. This paper conducts preliminary assessment of nine IUWM plan case studies from Melbourne. It finds inconsistencies between plans in relation to environmental and liveability objectives, and option identification methods, and also that many IUWM options perform worse than conventional water supplies in regards to energy. The most consequential finding is that the plans do not include scenario planning and therefore fail to consider infrastructure performance regarding resilience to future uncertainties around population and climate change.