Local planning policy can advance requirements for local development.

Urban household water supplied by rainwater.
The Currumbin Ecovillage is a 147 lot development over 270 acres of land in the Gold Coast Hinterland. The development contains community title blocks which range from 400 to 1400m2 . All of the water supplied to the houses in the development is from a combination of large (>20kL) rainwater tanks.

Influencing policy making can be more a matter of influencing outside organisations than influencing the government.

Influencing policy must start with the understanding that opportunities to influence policy and make significant change occur infrequently and often unpredictably.

The need to understand the impact of urbanisation and changing land use on water and solute mass balances in the groundwater underlying urban areas has been increasingly recognised over the past 25 years. Groundwater resources are now included, for example, as part of integrated urban water management (IUWM). Conceptual models for IUWM have recently included:

Decentralised residential wastewater management.
The Currumbin Ecovillage is a 147 lot development over 270 acres of land in the Gold Coast Hinterland. The development contains community title blocks which range from 400 to 1400m2. A sewerage treatment plant located within the development accepts and treats all wastewater which is then provided back to the houses in a purple pipe for non- potable uses.

Urban parklands can be upgraded to be multifunctional water treatment and flood management assets.
Built in 2001, the Kunshan Forest Park is a National Urban Wetland Park covering an area of 166 hectares in the northwest of Kunshan city in Jiangsu province, China. The Forest Park boasts an array of eco-tourism resources and is characterised by parklands, forests and lakes.

Application of water sensitive urban design strategies to provide retention, ltration, litter management and bio- retention outcomes, as well as improvements to local amenity.
The Kings Square development in Perth’s central business district is part of Perth City Link – an urban renewal project including offices, retail space, community open space and residential development. The project extends the commercial core of Perth and reconnects the city with Northbridge.

Naturalising the deteriorated sections of the concrete river banks along the Cooks River.

Josh’s House is an exemplar of integrated water sensitive urban design at the residential housing scale.
Josh’s House is an innovative housing-scale sustainable design and construction project based in Hilton WA, led by environmental scientist and national media personality Dr Josh Byrne in conjunction with Curtin University and the CRC for Low Carbon Living.
Consisting of two dwellings, the project aims to demonstrate that high performance water sensitive and energy e cient homes can be built at a comparable cost and timeframe to regular houses.