Blog

Independent Analysis and Audited Observations Confirm the Value of Sustainable Buildings for Greater Melbourne
Breakfast workshop at 7 am on Friday 28 August at Zinc at Federation Square

Good news for modern water and energy utilities, the Victoria government and citizens. The existing system for Greater Melbourne is critically dependent on variations in climate and population. Sustainable buildings substantially mitigate the challenges of variable population and climate – including climate change. Importantly, sustainable buildings operate across multiple spatial, temporal and dimensional scales to generate cumulative reductions in water demands, wastewater generation and stormwater runoff, the cost of providing water, wastewater and stormwater services, and the transfer costs.

There has been a rush to claim widespread health risks from rainwater supplies in water monopoly funded publications. It is claimed that pathogens and lead are a common problem. However, nobody is dying from rainwater supply in Australia. Rainwater harvesting systems have not generated health epidemics or widespread public health notifications from Chief Medical Officers. However, there is a push to privatise water monopolies throughout Australia – this involves dismissing competing water sources to maximise the perceived value of these businesses owned by the bureaucracy.

Presentation by Dr Peter Coombes for the Rainwater Harvesting Association of Australia at 7 am on Thursday 11 June 2015 at Botanical Restaurant, 152 Mt Coot-tha Road Toowong.
Understanding of water and energy systems that are linked to society by holistic objectives is required for development of policy for sustainable operation of government owned markets. It is vitally important that the analysis and decision making for water and energy strategies for a city allows opportunities for complementary strategies at different spatial and temporal scales. These policies should be cognisant of the dimensions and characteristics of an area. These strategies must respond to objectives from the perspective of the whole of society. The use of systems analysis that includes the entire spectrum of economic or financial processes has revealed a wide range of outcomes that are not currently considered in the evaluation of programs. There is a need to incorporate water and energy targets for buildings to balance statutory monopoly ownership of water and to drive sustainable “free” market behaviour for the benefit of state governments.

Systems approach to integrated catchment management for the ACT region. Presentation by Dr Peter Coombes for the Hydrological Society at 5:30 pm on 2 June 2015 in the Frank Fenner Building at Australian National University Canberra. The authors developed a systems framework for analysis of integrated catchment management in the ACT and surrounding regions including downstream impacts on the Murray Darling Basin. This analysis supported the ACT government business case for integrated catchment management. The ACT government successfully submitted the business case to the Australian Federal government and the supporting analysis was positively reviewed as part of the process. The systems analysis highlighted the impacts of cumulative loads of pollutants on regional waterways and catchments. A new policy regime was recommended and the ACT government were awarded $85 million by the Australian Federal government. The systems analysis employed in this study has utilised all available system-wide data to better understand the pollutant dynamics characterising the waterways throughout the ACT and surrounds. A continual and ongoing provision of data throughout this investigation, and the review and negotiation periods required continual enhancements of the systems analysis. Nevertheless this process allowed the robust, verified and deeply analysed findings of this study

An Overview of Water Policy Challenges for Victoria. Presentation by Dr Peter Coombes at the Association of Consulting Surveyors and the Institution of Surveyors Seminar at 2:30 on Friday 29 May 2015 at Moonee Valley Race Course. This presentation draws on insights from pioneering systems analysis to develop insights for water, environment and planning policies to ensure future liveability and affordability of Australian Cities, involvement in drafting policies and work on the revision of Australian Rainfall and Runoff.