Resource Papers

Demand Forecasting

This work will explore the various methods currently used for demand forecasting such as sector and end use based approaches. It will also identify various methods used for weather/climate correction modelling in demand analysis and forecasting. For each method the barriers and opportunities will be identified, consideration of applicability (i.e. major urban centres verus smaller regional centres which have varying data and resources) with a view to identifying best practice.

Climate change

The focus of this research will be to develop a sub-guide/resource paper that interprets how climate change issues should be included in urban water demand and supply planning by water utilities and water service providers across Australia. This will involve investigation and documentation of the potential impacts of climate change on urban water demand and supply planning and likely impacts of policies to address climate change (such as carbon pricing) in order to advise on appropriate approach, climate scenario and climate model selection. It will detail how climate change issues need to be considered for each step of the IRP process. This will include potential impacts on water demand, water supply availability and system yield, reliability of supplies, option design, ‘readiness’ options and the assessment of option costs and benefits. The work will not involve new climate modelling but will include documentation of how climate change modelling outputs and available prediction tools (including web based models) can and should be used in urban water planning. A case study currently being undertaken by CSIRO (either South East Queensland or Sydney) will be included as an illustration of current best practice in integrating climate change implications into urban water demand and supply planning.

Sustainability Assessment

This work will compare alternative approaches to the assessment of options and groups of options in terms of their ‘sustainability’. It will address how community values can be brought into the assessment of demand and supply and broader water management options and how these values might be used together with financial costs of potential alternatives. It will cover the spectrum of approaches from the PBA framework developed in the Brisbane City case study to more qualitative approaches involving the use of sustainability criteria. The sub-guide/resource paper developed will also address the development and assessment of group options or ‘portfolios’ that bring in issues of risk, uncertainty, and drought contingency planning.

Monitoring and Evaluation of option outcomes

The monitoring and evaluation of demand management programs, or of portfolios of demand and supply options is a relatively new field, even internationally. However, it is extremely important in order to allow investments, now totalling many hundreds of millions of dollars in Australia, to be properly evaluated using rigorous and consistent methodologies. In addition, the results of such evaluation exercises are important in increasing the confidence of decision makers and communities in the level of savings that can be achieved from implementation of options.  In addition to a review of international practice, much of this resource paper will draw on the experience of ISF and other practitioners in evaluating programs across Australia as well as other sources of research and practice, allowing this work to be reviewed and codified in a way that is accessible to, and supports the industry.

A summary of best practice assessment of non revenue water analysis

WSAA have encouraged and supported member utilities to adopt the IWA’s reporting framework for non revenue water (NRW) as part of the annual reporting requirements, and the terminology and data collection is becoming more consistent with the IWA framework as a result. The work will build on this foundation, and make a strong linkage to the work, and comprehensive manuals and software (FastCalc) available from Wide Bay Water. The purpose will be to provide a comprehensive summary of the field that provides coherence in the overall context of demand management, and an entry point to the more detailed resources. One gap that this work will fill is to provide up to date benchmarking data on costs and savings associated with active leakage and pressure management programs that are applicable to utilities in Australia.

Program evaluation and benchmarking of IRP processes

This work is designed to allow an individual utility or government agencies responsible for water management to benchmark its activities against the defined IRP process, to see which components have already been initiated and which parts of the process remain to be developed. It is also intended to  provide support for utilities and agencies in determining an entry point into the planning process This benchmarking exercise has recently been completed by ISF for the Madrid water utility, Canal Isabel II, as part of the International Water Association’s (IWA) International Demand Management Framework (IDMF). This work will document the process and framework for such benchmarking, drawing on that experience, in a way that allows water managers to have a clear picture of where they should start (the entry point), and which components of the framework require the most work, that is, what level of detail of analysis is appropriate in the local circumstances based on the needs and the resources available. This component of work aims to test the benchmarking process developed on an Australian water service provider to enable the process to be applicable to the Australian context.