EPBC
A Senate inquiry is underway into a Bill that amends the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to prevent the Commonwealth from handing responsibility for approving proposed actions that significantly impact matters protected under the EPBC Act to a State or Territory.
Sustainable & Resilient Water & Sewerage Infrastructure
Engineering Consultants: Arup have provided some interesting
commentary on properly understanding resilience following on from natural
disasters. The
rationale: knowing if replacement infrastructure will be any more resilient
than that which it replaces.
David Singleton has been asking on twitter: "what do you think are the key planks of
If water and sewerage infrastructure is to be truly
sustainable, one needs a way to understand what resilient infrastructure looks
like. One also needs a way to compare
infrastructure designs and systems to achieve the most resilient outcome. Sustainability ratings tools have the
potential to do this.
It is no longer enough to merely say that one is ‘building green’. Australian
consumer law is clear on the obligations regarding environmental claims
under the Competition
and Consumer Act 2010. Manufacturers,
suppliers, advertisers and others are required to assess the strength of any
environmental claims. Claims have to be
demonstrated and certified. Methods of measuring sustainability are vital. There is also a renaissance in driving
sustainability up and down one’s supply chain.
The Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star environmental rating system for buildings and communities and
the Australian Green Infrastructure Council’s IS
rating scheme for infrastructure setting benchmarks.
Ratings tools allow one to assess and certify best practice.
These ratings credentials will demonstrate that one can create better water
and sewerage infrastructure for communities and cities in Australia.
There are also opportunities to export these skills. Sustainability ratings tools will be vital if
Australians are to realise the opportunities from the current scale and pace of
urbanisation in Asia.
The Australian Government’s recently-released
‘Australia
in the Asian Century’ white paper points to the fact that
Asia will soon be home to the majority of the world’s middle class, all of whom
need water and sewage networks, treatment infrastructure and utilities. In the wake of
recent natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy and the Queensland floods, major
infrastructure programmes are planned or are underway in several countries.
The
Great Stink in the summer of 1858, the city of London (an overwhelming
stench from the River Thames, that shut down Parliament) led to the
construction of sewer in London. Infrastructure
investment decisions have long-term consequences, as the assets can shape
development for decades – often beyond their lifetime. So decisions on infrastructure should
anticipate the long-term environment, needs and constraints under which it will
function.
However, our ability to predict the future has been shown to
be limited.
Climate change is
introducing deep uncertainty that makes this even more difficult. The
environmental conditions under which infrastructure performs are likely to
change radically and its design needs to take this into account.
Sustainability thinking is crucial for
making clear the connections between the infrastructure project and the local
and wider society, economy, environment and businesses. It is also vital to
spotting where these connections could cause serious vulnerabilities that put
the entire system at risk. Ensuring that these connections are elastic,
adaptable and resilient will benefit society, the economy and the environment.
Rating tools not only provide a way to determine an
infrastructure asset's sustainability, they also enable comparison of the
sustainability of different assets, or of different design solutions for a
single asset. While the principal use for these tools is to determine the
asset's rating, they can also be used – informally – in 'design' mode.
Using ratings tools to understand resilience is an important
area for the development of infrastructure sustainability tools. Significant
progress will be made in this direction over the next years, as ratings
organisations and universities (University
of Leeds Institute for Resilient Infrastructure for example)
develop the means to measure water and sewerage infrastructure resilience.
30 Year Water Strategy Policy Reference Group
How can Australians lead by
example to ensure affordable, secure, sustainable water and sewerage services
in our own communities and developing communities?
On Tuesday 5th March 2013
from 12 noon until 2pm ASBG are organising a policy reference group for ASBG members to
discuss the discussion paper, hosted by Aurecon.
The Department of
Energy and Water Supply has launched a discussion paper to guide the development of a 30
Year Water Sector Strategy to ensure affordable, secure, sustainable and high
quality water and sewerage services across Queensland. Submissions
close Friday 29 March 2013.
The Queensland Water
Sector Discussion Paper is designed to facilitate active discussion and
participation in creating a new path for Queensland’s water future in urban,
rural, regional and remote communities.
If you wish to attend the forum at
Aurecon, please RSVP to rowan@asbg.net.au
