Caloundra Urban Stormwater Quality Management Plan

The Caloundra Urban Stormwater Quality Management Plan (USQMP) presents a range of strategies to ensure our enjoyment of the area’s natural resources is not reduced by lowering the quality of its waterways.

Impacts to water quality and quantity

With the area’s population predicted to expand and levels of urbanisation expected to increase, the following impacts to water quality/quantity are predicted unless managed appropriately:

• increased pollution of stormwater runoff
• increased quantities of stormwater runoff
• increased peak flows (and hence flooding)
• reduced time to peak flows (increased danger from flooding)
• reduced baseflows (required to support in-stream ecological processes)
• increased in-stream water velocities
• increased in-stream scour and erosion.

The USQMP provides a framework for stormwater quality management which:

• is acceptable to both legislators and the general community
• supports the long-term economic viability of Caloundra as a tourist destination and a desirable home for current and future residents
• sustains Caloundra's environmental and aesthetic values.

By applying the principles of Total Water Cycle Management to future development, stormwater is viewed as a resource rather than a nuisance.

Water Sensitive Urban Design

Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is an aspect of total water cycle management which seeks to incorporate water management into the design of our urban environment.

It is based on the principles of water efficiency and reuse, and treats stormwater as a resource rather than a waste product. Measures to manage urban stormwater include:

• stormwater retention/detention
• reuse
• increased permeability of surfaces.

WSUD addresses water quality problems at the source, by incorporating management systems into buildings, urban transport routes, and public open spaces, rather than constructing expensive engineered add-ons downstream.

This long-term approach to stormwater management will help ensure that:

• opportunities for 'at-source' stormwater controls are maximised
• innovative solutions for stormwater harvesting/management are actively encouraged
• reliance on costly 'end-of-pipe' infrastructure solutions is minimised
• water quality impacts from future development are minimised
• impacts from flooding are reduced
• impacts on water quality from existing development are reduced over time
• receiving environments are not degraded by stormwater discharges.