Water Sensitive Urban Design - Introduction

What is WSUD?

Water sensitive urban design (WSUD) is a multi-pronged approach to managing stormwater. It integrates land-use planning with water management. Using an holistic approach, WSUD aims to blend urban infrastructure with a site's natural features in a way that reduces negative impacts on the natural water cycle and protect the health of aquatic ecosystems.

How does it work?

WSUD treatments collect, treat and use stormwater as close to where it falls as rain. WSUD measures aim to mimic the natural processes of small and frequent runoff (or rain) events. This is because in terms of pollution, these smaller events are of greatest environmental significance as they frequently cause enough runoff to carry pollutants into our waterways.

WSUD features can form a 'treatment train' that works with or replaces conventional stormwater infrastructure such as pipes, kerb, gutters and drains. A treatment train means that you may have a combination of WSUD treatments, such as a swale drain, leading to a gross pollutant trap, that then empties into a wetland area.