Most Water Studio engagements start here, before anything is designed, when the constraints are still unclear and the options are still open. This is also where the two documents most clients come to us for are produced.
Integrated Water Management plans and strategies
Integrated Water Management (IWM) looks at all the water moving through a site or a catchment, stormwater, potable supply, wastewater and groundwater, and asks how they can work together rather than separately.
An IWM plan sets out what is achievable on a site, what it delivers in water quality, water security and liveability outcomes, and how those outcomes stack up against the cost and maintenance burden of getting them. It is the document that lets a council, developer or authority commit to an approach with confidence.
Stormwater Management Plans and Strategies
A Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) or Strategy sets out the current and future needs of a site with regard to both external and internal stormwater flows, and defines the treatment and conveyance required to meet them.
These are the documents that unlock planning approvals in greenfield areas and support drainage scheme assessments and amendments. Water Studio prepares them for subdivisions, capital works projects and catchment scale planning.
Early options assessment
Working out what is actually possible on a site before committing to a solution. Testing options against catchment, levels, available land, maintenance access and approval risk, then narrowing to the ones worth developing.
Finding a way through
Some sites look like they have no answer. A busy intersection with nowhere for a maintenance truck to stand. Public land under powerlines that nobody can maintain. Existing infrastructure that has to stay in service.
These are the problems Water Studio is most useful on, and usually the ones where an unconventional answer, a diversion to a more accessible location, or a rethink of where treatment sits, turns an unworkable site into a buildable one.