Rachel Willis

The development and testing of a sustainability framework and assessment criteria for the planning of water services infrastructure

Rachelle Willis, Anna Hollingsworth, Kim Evans and Bill Capati
Gold Coast Water, Queensland

Abstract:
Sustainability is a key component in the decision making process for strategic water service planning at Gold Coast Water (GCW) but, consistently lacking was a uniform, practical and easily applicable method for incorporating sustainability into the planning of all water service projects. The Infrastructure Planning Sustainability Framework and Criteria (IPSFC) was developed with the intent of being a decision making tool to assist in the options development of innovative sustainable approaches for water services infrastructure and to, assess the sustainability credentials of the options in a uniform and
transparent manner. The key components of the IPSFC are the framework and the uniform sustainability themes and criteria used to carryout sustainability assessment. The development method included a review of relevant literature, refinement of current models (WSAA), external and internal peer expert review, and application. Application and testing of the IPSFC enabled refinement of the process and validation of the criteria. This testing phase also allowed for the development of a user guide and assisted in defining measurement parameters for the sustainability criteria. The development,
refinement, testing and validation of the IPSFC have resulted in a project planning method which incorporates the realm of sustainability principles for application in the planning of water services infrastructure.