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Integrated Water Cycle Management (IWCM) is a way for local water utilities to better manage their water systems to maximise benefits to the community and environment. It also achieves improved communication and sharing with other water users and managers. It is a key component of the NSW Office of Water's Best Practice Management of Water Supply and Sewerage Guidelines.
IWCM deals effectively with the complex linkages between different elements of the urban water cycle (water supply, sewage and stormwater). This is done within the urban area and between the urban area and its water related physical and legislative catchment. This multiple approach encourages effective integration of these urban water systems. Integrated systems often rely less on natural water sources as more benefit is made of water already being used through demand management, effluent use and stormwater use.
Integrated Water Cycle Management adopts the following five principles:
- Consideration of all water sources (including waste water) in water planning
- The sustainable and equitable use of all water sources
- Consideration of all water users
- Integration of water use and natural water processes
- A whole of catchment integration of natural resource use and management
These principles are used to achieve the following three IWCM objectives:
- Identification of key water cycle issues
- Identify the urban context for these issues
- Identify and implement strategies that will manage these issues appropriately
Information sheets
Information sheets have been developed to explain several key IWCM process steps:
Read the media release on Integrated Water Cycle Management.
Integrated Water Cycle Management Guidelines and scope of works
The NSW Office of Water has developed the Integrated Water Cycle Management Guidelines to provide guidance on undertaking IWCM planning.
The Office has also developed an example IWCM Generic scope of work (PDF 920 KB) for utilities to use as a guide to develop a consultant engagement brief.
Working with the NSW Office of Water
It is recommended that when a utility is considering starting an IWCM, it should contact a Water Utility Contact Officer or email watercycle@dwe.nsw.gov.au to discuss further queries regarding IWCM and its proposed IWCM scope of works.
Financial support
Funding support is available to utilities undertaking their first IWCM Evaluation and/or IWCM Strategy under the Office's Country Towns Water Supply and Sewerage Program.
Local water utilities are required to seek funding approval at the consultant engagement stage and funds will be paid at the completion of a satisfactory IWCM Evaluation and/or IWCM Strategy.
Financial support is available for:
- Evaluation Study
- Demand analysis and water use forecasts
- Supply analysis of new options (including sustainable yield)
- Distribution analysis of new options
- Scenario development and comparison (ranking)
- Economic and rate impact assessment
- Community consultation
- IWCM report production
See information sheet 1 (PDF 61 KB) for more details.
Data
The major obstacle most utilities encounter when preparing an IWCM has been the lack of suitable data. The IWCM Generic scope of works (PDF 893 KB), IWCM Guidelines (PDF 1 MB) or your Water Utility Contact Officer can give you further details and information on this topic.
Is it compulsory to undertake Integrated Water Cycle Management?
Whilst preparation of an IWCM is not compulsory for utilities, it is required:
Models
The NSW Office of Water has developed models to assist with the implementation of IWCM. These models are only available to local water utilities in NSW undertaking IWCM. For a copy of the model, please contact us. A copy of the manuals can be downloaded below:
Used to improve the accuracy of forecasts and obtain a better understanding of how investment in water conservation can bring about significant net savings in capital and operating costs.
The water tracking model (or climate correction model as it is commonly called) uses non-linear regression to draw a relationship between daily water demand and various daily climate variables.
Used to assess the benefits to a utility of rainwater tanks connected to a house for several locations across NSW based on a set of simple variable options. The model can also be upgraded by the utility if local Bureau of Meteorological data is available.
Contacts
For further information or to discuss any aspect of the Integrated Water Cycle Management process please contact us.
Note
* Please note this document published by a predecessor agency represents the most current information on this topic.
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