The broad aim of this report is to explore the regulatory framework and governance issues associated with decentralised water management systems (DWMSs) within a strata and community title (S&CT) context. Water shortages during the recent drought have renewed concerns about the sustainability of urban water management.
Concerns about the capacity of centralised water supply systems to deliver reliable and secure water supplies have triggered interest in the potential of localised DWMSs as an alternative approach to water management. S&CT developments appear to represent strong potential vehicles for promoting DWMSs because there is an extant legislative framework that supports the governance and management of such developments in all Australian states and territories. This legislative framework enables DWMSs to be implemented by allowing owners to communally own water and wastewater supply infrastructure, collect levies and fees to cover the operational costs relating to the infrastructure, constitute by-laws to regulate behaviour that may impact on the viability of the water system, and provide water and wastewater services. The integration of S&CT schemes with DWMSs could provide sufficient water to service the occupants of the scheme and provide irrigation for the grounds of a development. It could also allow for on-selling any excess water to third parties to help pay for a system‘s operational costs.
The statutory provisions for implementing DWMSs in S&CT complexes in the states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria are analysed in this report. A regulatory review identifies the types of water management measures that are required under each state‘s building codes and standards, the prerequisites for registering (or licensing) as a water service provider, the general development restraints (such as headwork charges and compulsory connection to water service networks), the planning conditions and approvals required for implementing DWMSs, and S&CT laws relating to the implementation and operation of DWMSs. The material reviewed is based on regulations in force as at August 2008.
In order to gain insight into the perspectives and opinions of stakeholders with S&CT-based DWMS experiences, a series of in-depth interviews was conducted over several months. Stakeholder groups represented by the interviewees included developers, S&CT managers and water industry experts. Also, delegates attending the National Community Titles Institute 2008 conference completed a survey of their experiences with managing S&CT schemes in general and DWMSs in particular. Generally, stakeholders believed that DWMSs have a future in the marketplace. Their primary concerns related to the management of these systems by bodies corporate or owners corporations and the imposition of headworks charges and water service fees. Mechanisms to set infrastructure contributions (or headworks charges) for developments with DWMSs and to determine water service charges for lot owners or occupiers were also identified as insufficiently flexible. The concern is that current arrangements do not enable the identification of different resource consumption demands placed on water infrastructure services across units within a strata title scheme.