Laying the Foundations. Melbourne Water Submission

Transcription

1 Laying the Foundations Melbourne Water Submission

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3 Shaping Victoria s Infrastructure Strategy Investment in infrastructure that builds long term resilience, enhances liveability and responds to a changing climate will be a key to economic prosperity and community wellbeing in Melbourne. We recognise that these opportunities will be lost if planning is not coordinated. Introduction Melbourne Water is one of a number of urban water corporations in Victoria and provides water, sewage and drainage services to the greater Melbourne region. To do this, Melbourne Water manages $1.4 billion of assets that play an important part in the lives of our customers and the health of our environment. These assets include: Water supply 11 water supply reservoirs 34 water treatment plants 221 km of water supply aquaducts and 1051 km of water mains Sewage Two major waste water treatment plants 400 km of sewers 8 sewage pumps stations Waterways and drainage 8400 km of rivers and creeks 1500 km of drains 508 constructed waterway treatment systems and wetlands 161 urban lakes and 24 retarding basins Planning for the future Planning for the needs of a growing city in a changing climate is an important part of what we do. In we delivered a $359 million capital works program to ensure that the assets we manage continue to support the growth and liveability of the region. This included investment of $149 million in renewal projects and $134 million to meet future demands. Laying the Foundations Melbourne Water 1

4 Key challenges that will influence future investment include population growth, a changing climate and aging infrastructure. Melbourne s population is predicted to grow to 7.8 million by 2051, with an additional one million new dwellings. Accommodating this growth while enhancing liveability will require new infrastructure and careful planning. Climate change has the potential to impact almost every aspect of the water industry through its impact on rainfall, temperature, water demand as well as increased threat from fire, flood and sea level rise. Our existing infrastructure is ageing while demand for new infrastructure services is growing. Some of the infrastructure we use is more than 100 years old and needs replacing. New approaches are needed Traditionally, investments in urban water cycle assets were designed to extend the footprint of existing networks or to increase capacity to service predicted future demands. Following the millennium drought, bodies such as the National Water Commission called for a new approach: More effective collaboration in planning beyond traditional water considerations (can) unlock new efficiencies in urban water systems. (This) will require: - development of more sophisticated analytical frameworks that can assess the merits of an increasing number of alternative approaches, including related risks and avoided costs - more effective ways of valuing externalities - further development of mechanisms for different institutions in the urban planning system to interact more effectively and to see the full costs and benefits of choices when making individual decisions. (National Water Commission 2014, Urban Water Futures 2014, NWC, Canberra) This new approach includes the consideration of decentralised technologies and demand management to potentially reduce pressure on centralised systems. These approaches can simultaneously provide a range of benefits to other sectors or to the community. Despite this, the prevailing assessment approaches often favour continued investment in existing systems as the cheapest option. This is symptomatic of the nexus between broader objectives and the role of individual sectors to deliver reliable, efficient and 2 Melbourne Water Laying the Foundations

5 affordable services, and means the intent to adopt a new planning approach is not yet mainstream practice. The role of integrated frameworks There is an opportunity for Infrastructure Victoria s 30 year Strategy to offer a pathway forward if it can facilitate consideration of options that: defer significant investment in centralised infrastructure by considering demand side options deliver a broader range of outcomes for the community through our investment coordinate major infrastructure activities to reduce costs further integrate urban planning with water planning. Integrating urban planning with infrastructure planning Both Eastern Treatment Plant and Western Treatment Plant are subject to encroachment by development as Melbourne grows. Experience with these waste water treatment plants shows that decisions made with respect to changes in adjacent land use can lead to large capital and operating costs within the plant, for instance to mitigate odours. Whilst this expenditure is a necessary outcome to safeguard community health, it highlights the nexus between urban planning and infrastructure planning, and the need to consider other development opportunities that may be more compatible with the existing treatment plants. To achieve this it will be necessary to shift from a sector specific assessment of infrastructure needs to a city-wide perspective. Whilst the collaboration necessary is emerging, we currently lack a framework within which to have the necessary debate about priorities. Characteristics of this framework may include: o agreed objectives for the city (as proposed in Laying the Foundations) o evaluation of the merits of investing at city and regional scales o a benefit-cost framework that considers a range of community benefits and facilitates funding across multiple sectors o strong community participation. Objectives and needs Laying the Foundations proposes ten objectives for the 30 year Infrastructure Strategy. In considering the suite of objectives it is important to consider the role they might play. Laying the Foundations Melbourne Water 3

6 The Strategy will be successful if it challenges the notion of what infrastructure is and drives integration and coordination across sectors to deliver innovative solutions. It will not be successful if its objectives reinforce conventional approaches. Therefore while Melbourne Water supports objectives such as Responding to population growth (No. 1); Lifting Victoria s productivity (No. 5) and Protecting and enhancing natural environments (No. 8), these are already integral to our infrastructure planning. Three priorities become clear as catalysts for the planning integration that is required: - No. 2 Supporting healthy safe and vibrant communities to enhance Melbourne s world renowned liveability which will stimulate further investment - No. 9 Supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation to ensure that the city responds effectively and equitably - No. 10 Building resilience to shocks and impacts such as floods, droughts, bushfires and heatwaves that generate both economic and public health costs These objectives will promote outcomes that cannot be achieved by any one sector investing on its own nor using conventional approaches. Next steps Thank you for the opportunity to provide input into the Laying the Foundations discussion paper. Melbourne Water welcomes opportunities to further contribute to the development of: - a planning framework - economic evaluation frameworks - community engagement approaches and can provide templates, case studies and insights from its own experience in each of these areas. 4 Melbourne Water Laying the Foundations