Integrated Water Cycle Management (IWCM)

• Identify the geographic area of interest to the project, map the project boundary, and assess the hydrological and other natural resource impacts within, and in and out of, that boundary.
• Consider the full range of IWCM-related issues evident in the project area and in its broader context.
• Consider the unique challenges and risks relevant to the local context.
• Consider the pressures and drivers of the IWCM-related issues.
• Collect data and collate other information that establishes an evidence-based understanding across all these issues and risks i.e. place-based knowledge.
• Summarise the problems and critical risks that the IWCM project needs to address.

• Identify the communities relevant to the IWCM project area.
• Seek representation from these communities that involves a broad, diverse and representative cross-section.
• Engage with these communities to understand their needs and values
• Develop a community engagement plan.
• Build authentic relationships with community representatives.
• Partner with Aboriginal peoples (Regional Aboriginal Water Committees, NSW Aboriginal peaks and community controlled organisations, other Aboriginal water-interest groups, and/or Aboriginal communities) to build understanding of the communities’ needs, and values and uses of water.
• Ensure that the IWCM project outcomes are linked to the historical and social context of the area, including Aboriginal histories and culture.
• Consult early with communities, at all key milestones, and to evaluate the IWCM project.

3. Understand environmental needs and values

What are the needs of the environment and what environment are you seeking to protect?

• Consider the natural resources and ecosystems that exist in the IWCM project area.
• Identify the services these natural resources and ecosystems provide.
• Partner with Aboriginal peoples (Regional Aboriginal Water Committees, NSW Aboriginal peaks and community controlled organisations, other Aboriginal water-interest groups, and/or Aboriginal communities) to build environmental understanding. Use culturally safe mechanisms to allow knowledge sharing to take place, so that the exchange respects Aboriginal peoples' Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), while adhering to data sovereignty principles.
• Seek to understand the value of the services provided by nature.
• Identify dependencies between natural resources and nature-related risks.
• Analyse the impacts the IWCM project may have on the environment i.e. how might water use and land use changes impact local ecosystems?
• Determine whether the impacts of the IWCM project are acceptable to the community and to the environment i.e. do they allow for the ongoing healthy functioning of ecosystems?

4. Set vision, objectives and outcomes

What is the place-based vision and the objectives and outcomes the IWCM project will seek to achieve?

Will targets be developed to support the vision?

• Frame the problems and risks that the IWCM project is seeking to address.
• Establish a process to co-design the vision, objectives and outcomes with project stakeholders and communities, including with Traditional Owners.
• Identify the full range of urban water cycle outcomes that can be achieved by the IWCM project.
• Consult across multiple stakeholders, communities, government and industry to set the vision, objectives and outcomes.
• Verify that the vision, objectives and outcomes are based on a strong and deep understanding of community and environmental needs and values.
• Identify the outcomes that key stakeholders regard as critical to delivery.
• Determine the levels of service/ targets that the IWCM project will need to meet for all critical outcomes.
• Develop and agree indicators and measures for each of the targets/ level of service.
• Establish a clear and community endorsed commitment to the vision, objectives and outcomes, across stakeholders, leaders and organisations.

5. Understand and comply with all relevant regulation, legislation, guidance and policies

Is the regulatory, legislative and policy environment well-established, understood and able to be complied with? If not, what are the gaps and/ or barriers and what might need to be done to address them?

• Identify all existing regulation, legislation, guidance and policies that relate to the IWCM project
• Identify how the IWCM project aligns with this regulation, legislation, guidance and policy, and identify any gaps and barriers.
• Engage with regulators to seek advice on how to deliver the IWCM project in the existing regulatory environment, given any gaps and barriers, and collaborate to extend the enabling environment, where appropriate.
• Link the IWCM project to relevant NSW Government and council policies, where possible.
• Advocate to improve the enabling environment to better enable current and future IWCM projects, where appropriate.

6. Determine appropriate funding models

Are there ongoing funding mechanisms available to support the IWCM project? If not, what are the funding gaps and how might they be addressed?

• Identify the impactors and beneficiaries of the IWCM project and those entities that can support it.
• Identify costs and allocate them to impactors as a first priority, then to beneficiaries if this is not possible.
• Identify social equity and affordability issues.
• Identify and develop mechanisms to recover project costs (such as developer charges and revenue from water bills) over the project lifecycle.
• Determine an agreed cost and risk sharing arrangement at the start of the planning process that enables funding of multiple project impacts and benefits in the short and long term.

7. Set up sustainable governance structures

Are the right people involved at the right times, and is the governance model enduring?  If not, what are the governance gaps and how might they be addressed?

• Consider how to draw in expertise, support and guidance across all aspects of the water cycle (for example, water resource managers, water and sewer managers, stormwater managers, Traditional Owners and flood managers).
• Identify key contributors and a method/ forum for collaboration with key stakeholders, Traditional Owners, government agencies and organisations.
• Establish governance arrangements, including a steering committee and working groups with an independent chair and/ or that incorporate independent advisory and review processes, as appropriate to the complexity of the IWCM project.
• Clearly articulate roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and collaborative expectations of those in the governance structure.
• Establish buy-in for the project from those at senior levels in the organisations involved in the project.
• Appoint a lead organisation responsible for the coordination of ongoing IWCM project investment and planning, and to champion ongoing collaboration.
• Confirm with key organisations that they have committed sufficient staff and resources to support project governance.
• Ensure the monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement plan includes review of the effectiveness of project governance at key stages.

8. Align water planning and land use planning

How can land use planning and water management be better aligned to ensure effective strategic planning?

• Reference the IWCM project in land use planning strategies e.g. cross reference the project in masterplans or place strategies, where possible.
• Embed targets into applicable development controls e.g. waterway health targets, water conservation measures and recycled water measures, where possible.
• Place requirements on proponents to prepare site-specific IWCM plans which align with the overarching IWCM project. Such requirements should be embedded in Development Control Plans.
• Ensure strategic land use plans (such as structure plans, lay-out plans and masterplans) reflect the location of IWCM infrastructure and reserve the acquisition land needed for IWCM infrastructure.
• Work with local governments and other planning authorities to identify ways to maximise the inclusion of water in the urban environment e.g. in irrigation, water features, passive amenity.
• Establish a process that allows for interaction between water and land use planners at different stages of plan development.
• Ensure that the IWCM project informs strategic land use plans (for example, structure plans) during their preparation.

9. Build organisational and industry capability

How are organisations and industry building skills and internal capacity?

• Undertake an assessment of the existing levels of knowledge and capability in the organisations and industries relevant to the IWCM project.
• Identify any skills and capacity gaps to implement IWCM projects, including lack of knowledge of new technologies and systems.
• Consider organisation and industry capacity to deliver, operate and maintain the IWCM project to the standards required to achieve its objectives and outcomes.
• Develop and deliver a capacity building program that includes activities to address gaps.
• Ensure the capacity building program builds skills in the monitoring, compliance and enforcement of lot-level residential, commercial and industrial projects.
• Identify and progress First Nations employment and business opportunities during implementation.
• Develop guidance materials to assist those responsible for delivering IWCM solutions.
• Develop new technical solutions and test them to ensure they are fit for purpose to the IWCM project’s scale and to the local conditions.

10. Empower communities

How is the community empowered to participate and contribute throughout the process?

• Determine the best way of engaging with customers to increase water literacy and empower stakeholders to have a role in the IWCM project.
• Undertake an initial assessment of existing IWCM knowledge and capability held in the communities relevant to the IWCM project.
• Invest in actions to build community and cultural awareness and capability to contribute to the IWCM project, targeted to the needs identified in the above assessment.
• Involve customers and communities, including Aboriginal peoples, in operating and maintaining water systems and infrastructure.
• Support Aboriginal representation, including through identified Aboriginal gender-balanced roles in the project team and/or supporting roles for Aboriginal community controlled organisations in decision-making relevant to the project.
• Conduct meaningful and authentic knowledge sharing with the community throughout all key stages of the IWCM project.
• Evaluate the IWCM project’s success at delivering an inclusive, bottom-up process that empowered and built the capacity of project communities; and incorporate lessons learnt into the next IWCM project.

11. All options on the table

Are all potential options across the water cycle identified and considered, including diverse water sources and fit for purpose uses?

• Conduct a water mass balance that estimates water inflows and outflows in and out of the project boundary.
• Identify the base case (what would occur under conventional servicing options).
• Identify all potential options to deliver the IWCM project, including by considering emerging technologies.
• Tailor options to the local conditions (local plants, soils and climates).
• Conduct a water mass balance that assesses the water impacts of each option compared with a base case e.g. without the project.
• Prepare an options analysis that assesses all feasible options and their risks.
• Assess and respond to local climate conditions and impacts in the options analysis.

12. Sound decision making

Are the right decisions being made, supported by a transparent and effective decision-making framework?

• Agree a decision-making framework at project outset that ensures accountability and is suited to the unique circumstances of the project.
• Apply environmental law and ethical principles in decision-making.
• Plan upfront how to resolve any decision gridlock.
• Ensure decisions can be justified from a range of perspectives, and are supported by cost-benefit analysis, wherever feasible.
• To deal with uncertainty in the project, identify a process for future adjustments as more information becomes available.
• Apply best-practice decision support tools proportionate to the scale and complexity of the project.
• Apply environmental economics approaches to guide decision-making, as suitable and feasible for the IWCM project.
• Publish decisions and analysis for public transparency and accountability.
• Reflect on decisions, identify any problems, and redirect the project as necessary at key project stages.

13. Adaptive planning and implementation

Is the planning process and implementation plan adaptive and responsive to changing circumstances?

• Develop an adaptive project plan that addresses risks and uncertainty.
• Develop a detailed implementation plan that sets expectations for all key aspects of the project and defines the scope of adaptiveness i.e. non-negotiable deliverables.
• Identify interdependencies with other projects and processes, identify critical paths and develop adaptive planning options, as appropriate to the complexity of the IWCM project.
• Ensure adaptive planning is integrated into the project that identifies and can respond to project risks and uncertainties.
• Establish a post implementation review process to evaluate whether the IWCM project is operating as intended and is meeting its intended objectives and outcomes.

14. Ongoing monitoring, evaluation, enforcement and reporting

How well is the IWCM project achieving its vision, objectives and outcomes over time? If planned outcomes are not being achieved, who is accountable and what is being done to correct this situation?

• Develop a monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement approach, that includes measuring against key performance indicators.
• Ensure the monitoring and evaluation program includes mechanisms to review the ongoing performance and compliance of the IWCM project.
• Develop processes to ensure ongoing compliance, reporting and tracking of asset performance and technology performance is in place.
• Inform industry, property owners and asset contractors of their legal responsibilities for maintaining and operating IWCM infrastructure to an appropriate standard.
• Investigate opportunities to include mandatory reporting requirements and, where appropriate, establish an owner reporting approach to maintaining WSUD systems.
• Ensure compliance aligns with established standards under environmental and planning legislation, including water quality, pollution, land use planning, stormwater retention and urban heat island standards.
• Conduct regular and transparent reporting to relevant authorities (i.e. councils and state agencies) on the achievement of targets, outcomes and milestones.

15. Reflect, learn, engage and challenge

How are lessons being learnt from the IWCM project and how is expertise being built over time?

• Engage in active reflection activities during project planning, delivery and evaluation.
• Build a continuous learning culture via regular and planned reflection about project outcomes and impacts.
• Engage across organisations and industries to build multi-disciplinary networks of expertise.
• Document the opportunities that emerge from these discussions i.e. those that challenge BAU and find new ways to extend and achieve IWCM outcomes.
• Share new ideas and insights within your organisation and across your networks.
• Promote and incentivise IWCM in organisational strategies and policies.
• Aim to incorporate resource recovery, resource efficiency and circular economy principles into the planning and delivery of IWCM projects.