Water Kit - Hunter Water

1.8 sustainability and water supply
Ecologically Sustainable
Development indicators
Addressing sustainability
issues
ESD achievements and how
you can help
Ecologically Sustainable Development
(ESD) is a framework which integrates
environmental, economic and social
decision-making into natural resource
management.
ESD principles have become an
important component for Hunter Water’s
decisions in managing the Lower
Hunter’s water supply.
A set of ESD ‘indicators’ or criteria have
been developed for Hunter Water to
monitor and report on progress towards
achieving ecological sustainability for
water supply in the Lower Hunter.
These indicators include:
• Economic
These relate to the direct and
indirect financial impacts on
Hunter Water’s customers (ie
community, business, industry).
Changes to the water supply
system need to be cost-effective
in terms of pricing and incentives.
• Environmental
These involve impacts on
living and non-living natural
systems - ecosystems, air, land
and water. Hunter Water works
with community, government
and industry to take a holistic
catchment approach to planning
and managing the water supply
system. A catchment-wide
approach is an effective way of
improving the health of waterways
as it integrates the management
of land, vegetation and water
resources, rather than dealing with
these natural resources in isolation.
• Social
These address the impacts on
communities in the Hunter. They
include qualitative and quantitative
information on public health and
safety, labour practices and social
issues. To achieve sustainable
water resource management
Hunter Water keeps the community
informed of decisions regarding
future water resource management.
This also helps develop community
responsibility for minimising the
collective impact on the water
cycle and water supply system.
Water kit . ssS . 001 . april 2010
Sustainability can be achieved by
following ESD principles and objectives
that ensure the maintenance of
ecological processes and systems.
To make water supply truly sustainable,
these principles and objectives are
integrated into Hunter Water’s activities
and operations, for example, captial
works and service delivery.
ESD objectives are mandated in NSW
legislation. The core objectives of the
National Strategy for ESD signed by
Australia’s Government are:
• To ensure a path of economic wellbeing
that safeguards the welfare
of future generations, referred to
as ‘intergenerational equity’
• To enhance the individual and
community well-being within and
between generations, referred to
as ‘intragenerational equity’
• To conserve and protect biological
diversity, ecological processes and
life-support systems
The core aspect of these objectives
is that the present generation needs
to ensure the health, diversity and
productivity of the environment for
the benefit of future generations.
Protecting the Hunter’s water supply
is a big part of this challenge. ESD
principles highlight the importance of
educating the current generation about
leaving our waterways and environment
intact for the next generation.
Hunter Water is working towards using
the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) as its
sustainability reporting framework. This
involves reporting on the organisation’s
overall performance against
environmental, economic and social
indicators.
TBL is not meant to involve three separate
figures - one against each indicator.
Instead, it involves one report that
interlinks these indicators to provide a
more transparent and credible system of
reporting on ESD.
Incorporating ESD principles and
objectives into Hunter Water’s water
supply system can be a challenging
process. Despite this, there have been
many ESD achievements shared by Hunter
Water and the Lower Hunter community.
Economic
Hunter Water:
• Real savings of 40% in operating
cost per property over the last ten
years. Similarly, prices charged to
customers have been reduced by
about 30% in real terms over the
same period.
• The first Australian water supply
authority to fully introduce the
user-pays principle in water and
wastewater services. As a result,
the total demand on water has
remained relatively constant,
despite population growth.
Your Role:
• Reduce your water bill by
conserving water around the home
and garden
• Don’t plant deep-rooted trees
around water pipes and sewer main
to minimise damage to assets
• Keep pollution out of our waterways
to minimise water and wastewater
treatment costs that are otherwise
passed onto consumers
Student plant trees at Edgeworth
Wastewater Treatment Works
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