Water sensitive urban design (WSUD)
Summary
Quick reference guide for key criteria

Overarching requirements
Embellishments should be designed/selected and installed as follows:
- Fit for purpose, appropriately positioned and accessible.
- Durable, robust and safe (suitable for corrosive environments).
- Vandal resistant with parts that are easily replaceable.
- Easy to maintain (with appropriate warranty and workmanship).
- Comply with relevant standards, legislation, corporate documents and approvals
Planning, design and positioning
- WSUD planning integrates the urban water cycle – stormwater, groundwater and wastewater – into urban design.
- Aims to protect aquatic ecosystem health and minimise negative impacts on natural hydrological cycle.
- Key engineering and environmental outcomes of WSUD:
- Reduced potable water consumption
- Improved water quality
- Improved waterways health
- Reduced pollutant loads
- Reduced wastewater
- Improved groundwater quality
- Improved water quality
- Enhanced integrated water cycle management
- Enhanced biodiversity
- Improved flood management
- Reduced life cycle costings.
WSUD requirements
- Treatment levels for stormwater structural controls, as part of a treatment train:
- Primary treatment – screening, isolation, separation, settling
- Secondary treatment – absorption, filtration, flocculation, settling
- Tertiary treatment – aeration (polishing), biological decomposition, biological uptake, disinfection, fixation, nitrification, de-nitrification oxidation, solar treatment, volatilisation, settling
- Source control devices – systems which reduce the volume of stormwater runoff flowing into the receiving environment. e.g. rainwater tanks, porous surface treatments
- Other systems – systems which may utilise stormwater runoff for the benefit of another asset, e.g. stormwater harvesting and re-use (irrigation) replace potable water use.
Positioning requirements
- Consider flood levels for desired immunity when positioning embellishments
- Co-location – In greenfield developments (new undeveloped sites), stormwater infrastructure is to be co-located within a lot adjacent to open space. Co-location maximises overall benefits for the community, ecology and amenity and avoids land intended as open space from being constrained.
- Integration – The complementary integration of WSUD into existing open space needs to holistically consider the use of the space for community, ecological and amenity purposes. If an existing stormwater overland flow or storage function is identified, WSUD infrastructure could be located within that non-functional open space, thereby avoiding the functional open space and any impacts on it. The delivery of WSUD infrastructure should occur in a manner that improves the effective functionality and resilience of the recreation, sport and environmental open space.
Note: Further guidance and clarification of the content on this page, can be found in the relevant sections of this information sheet.
This component is currently in development