Issues Affecting Community Attitudes and Intended Behaviours in Stormwater Reuse: A Case Study of Salisbury, South Australia

Stormwater has been recognised as one of the additional/alternative sources of water to augment freshwater supply and address the growing needs of humankind. South Australia has been a leader in the development of large-scale urban stormwater harvesting schemes in Australia for nearly 50 years and the Salisbury Local Government Area (LGA), in particular, is at the forefront of urban stormwater management and recycling, not only in the state of South Australia, but worldwide. This is mainly due to its pioneering achievements in stormwater capture and treatment through the managed aquifer recharge (MAR) process. However, there are many challenges in implementing water reuse strategies and past studies have identified public health concerns and public acceptance as major challenges. In line with this, our team conducted an internet survey to gauge the attitude and intentions of Salisbury LGA residents to use stormwater treated through the MAR process for non-potable uses. We found that respondents’ emotions and perceptions of health risk, regarding the use of treated stormwater, were closely related to the proximity of the end use to human contact. In terms of quality indicators, colour, odour, and salt levels were all seen as being important. Quality preferences were also closely related to the proximity of the end use to human contact, and reflected the use of water for indoor/outdoor purposes

Forestry water policy in South Australia : are written submissions a good engagement method in a complex forestry-environment-agriculture water conflict?

In Australia, the community is often invited to make written submissions on natural resource management issues, especially regional water plans. This is seen as a method of increasing democracy by allowing citizens to provide input to the plan. Most Australian water plans have radically decreased water allocated to agriculture (McKay, 2011). In that context, this paper focuses on the process of the development of an innovative forestry water policy to incorporate plantation forestry as a Water Affecting Activity into the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan. This is the ­ first plan in Australia explicitly imposing a regulation on forestry to account for interception losses and the use of shallow aquifer water by forest roots. There had been four public consultations in the forestry water policy development process, and written submissions were one way of stakeholder engagement in all of these public consultations. This paper is based on the analysis of the 31 con­fidential written submissions, received during the third public consultation on the Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan Policy Issues – Discussion Paper.

The evolution of business models for non-major desalination plants in Australia - issues for governance

Seawater desalination is increasingly considered as an important component of the water resources mix required to address the growing demand for water in situations where there is limited fresh water availability. Australia has made heavy investments over the past five years in desalination technology mostly to augment water supplies to the coastal capital cities by building six large desalination plants. In addition to these large plants, there are numerous non-major plants delivering desalinated water to several remote communities. The prolonged drought observed from 2000 to 2006 and impetus for private sector participation in infrastructure development and public service delivery including water supply, resulted in an increase in the numbers of these plants. However, there is very little or no information about these plants. Furthermore private sector involvement in the water supply industry has resulted in a range of business models including desalination industry in Australia. Accordingly the purpose of this paper is to identify the non-major desalination plants in Australia and the different business arrangements under which they operate. This work is part of an ongoing research project funded by the National Centre for Excellence in Desalination Australia (NCEDA) and it presents preliminary findings of the first phase of the project. The data was collected using online desk research and an innovative commercial in confidence snowballing technique. This study identified 666 non-major desalination plants with various business models. Out of the 666 plants identified 382 plants are currently operating and the results presented here are related to these plants. Next phase of the research will further explore all the ‘unknowns’ in order to obtain a good understanding of the different delivery methods, and potentially identifying the most likely method(s) to best deliver value for money and protect public interest.

Management of recycled water for sustainable production and environmental protection : a case study with Northern Adelaide Plains recycling scheme

In South Australia, 95,000 megalitres (ML) of municipal wastewater is collected and treated in metropolitan Adelaide. Approximately 50 % of this volume is treated at the Bolivar wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to produce a high quality wastewater suitable for irrigation without health related restriction to vegetable and salad crops. Following treatment wastewater is piped to horticultural growers on the Northern Adelaide Plains through Virginia Pipeline Scheme (VPS). The establishment of the VPS is not only effective in reducing the amount of wastewater entering the Gulf St Vincent but also facilitates the recycling of otherwise waste water for irrigation purposes. The VPS is the largest recycled water scheme in Australia serving around 250 horticultural growers. This paper provides an overview of the scheme focusing on the level of wastewater treatment at Bolivar WWTP, the value of the treated water as a source of irrigation water, carbon and nutrients for crop growth, and the socio-economic and environmental implications of its use for irrigation.