Newcastle's vision for a sustainable urban water cycle identifies the relationship between rainfall, drinking water supply, stormwater, flooding, environmental flows and waste water in the city.

The water cycle is an important ecological process that shapes and maintains:

• Weather and climate
• Landforms and soils
• Plant and animal communities
• Human society.

City living impacts on the water cycle

The development of land for towns and cities has significant impacts on the water cycle. In urban areas the building of homes, factories, schools, carparks and roads has greatly increased the velocity and the amount of rainwater that runs straight off the land.

This increased runoff can cause many problems. It can:

• Erode banks and bottoms of creeks
• Cause local drainage problems
• Carry pollutants
• Cause gullies to form
• Change ground water levels
• Smother plants and animals in our creeks and estuary with sediment
• Make us sick if we swim or eat fish from polluted waterways.

These problems create a direct and indirect financial cost to our community and impact on our environment and quality of life.

A new approach to managing the water cycle in our urban environment is required to plan for the long term sustainability of our community and its ecosystems.

Collaboration between partners

Cooperation between those organisations in the city that manage the “pieces†of the urban water cycle is essential. These organisations include:

• Council, who manages runoff or stormwater and all the public spaces
• Hunter Water , who is responsible for many main drainage lines, the delivery of drinking water supplies and the removal of waste water
• Hunter Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority  partnerships in catchments
• State agencies like the NSW Department of Environment and Heritage
• Everyone that lives, works and plays in Newcastle.

Urban Water Cycle Policy 2004

The Urban Water Cycle Policy 2004 (UWCP) outlines Council’s “whole of cycle†approach to urban water management. The policy:

• Confirms Council's commitment to a sustainable urban water cycle for Newcastle
• Provides general guidance and direction for all relevant groups and individuals involved in water management in Newcastle.

The UWCP 2004 is a vital step on the pathway to a sustainable water cycle for Newcastle that will contribute to our health, wellbeing, ecological and economic security into the future.

 Urban Water Cycle Policy for Newcastle 2004 (952Kb)