Publication:
A Large Metropolitan Water Supplier - Steps to Sustainability

dc.contributor.author Sack, F en_US
dc.contributor.author Bransgrove, G en_US
dc.contributor.author Charet, L en_US
dc.contributor.author Peters, G en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2021-11-25T13:23:35Z
dc.date.available 2021-11-25T13:23:35Z
dc.date.issued 2003 en_US
dc.description.abstract Assessing whether an organisation is achieving sustainability can be difficult. Different audiences require different types of information to understand ecological sustainability and in order to understand the combined impacts, overall performance needs to be reported in an aggregated way. Sydney Water uses several complementary tools to assess and communicate progress towards sustainability. The methodology used to assess combined impacts must be scientifically robust, easily communicated and allow benchmarking of performance in order to reflect any transition towards sustainability. Sydney Water has over two years calculated its ecological footprint (EF), in an innovative approach based on input-output analysis and land disturbance. Integrating scenarios into these pilot studies has allowed Sydney Water to effectively communicate some aspects of its impacts in its public reporting. Ecological footprint is an excellent education and communications tool and may have potential as a decision support tool in the future. At present EF can highlight areas for consideration by the Corporation but is not directly used in decision making and planning. Further research is needed to incorporate downstream impacts into EF, such as the impacts on receiving waters. Further, as it is based on financial and economic data, the EF methodology is not equipped to deliver the detailed assessment required for assessment of specific planning options. The use of EF by a water service provider must take place in a wider context of sustainability reporting and planning, building on the strengths of a tool kit of different methodologies. Sydney Water has a range of other sustainability tools, including life cycle assessment (LCA) which are used to develop the Corporation’s long-term plans and strategies. The organisation has used life cycle assessment (LCA) to provide predictive, comparative sustainability assessments of alternative options as part of its strategic planning process. These assessments include upstream and downstream effects but are not suitable for all audiences en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/39538
dc.language English
dc.language.iso EN en_US
dc.publisher AWA en_US
dc.rights CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 en_US
dc.rights.uri https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ en_US
dc.source Legacy MARC en_US
dc.subject.other Sustainability. en_US
dc.subject.other Environmental engineering. en_US
dc.subject.other Water use. en_US
dc.subject.other Water supply. en_US
dc.subject.other Sydney water. en_US
dc.title A Large Metropolitan Water Supplier - Steps to Sustainability en_US
dc.type Conference Paper en
dcterms.accessRights metadata only access
dspace.entity.type Publication en_US
unsw.accessRights.uri http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_14cb
unsw.relation.faculty Engineering
unsw.relation.ispartofconferenceLocation Perth, Australia en_US
unsw.relation.ispartofconferenceName 20th AWA Convention en_US
unsw.relation.ispartofconferenceProceedingsTitle Ozwater 2003 en_US
unsw.relation.ispartofconferenceYear 2003 en_US
unsw.relation.originalPublicationAffiliation Sack, F en_US
unsw.relation.originalPublicationAffiliation Bransgrove, G en_US
unsw.relation.originalPublicationAffiliation Charet, L en_US
unsw.relation.originalPublicationAffiliation Peters, G, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UNSW en_US
unsw.relation.school School of Civil and Environmental Engineering *
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