Australia is currently facing a housing crisis, increasing climate volatility, and rising infrastructure costs. Yet, one of our most vital urban assets—stormwater—is being treated as a secondary byproduct rather than a core utility.
In its 2026 submission to the Productivity Commission, Stormwater Australia is calling for a fundamental shift in how our nation manages urban water. It’s time to move past technical debates and address the structural failures that prevent us from building more resilient, affordable cities.
The Problem: A System Designed to Fail
Despite having world-class technical solutions, Australia’s current policy and funding arrangements are locking in higher costs and lower resilience. Stormwater management is currently fragmented across local councils, water utilities, and state agencies.
This fragmentation leads to:
- Unclear Accountability: No single entity is responsible for stormwater outcomes, leading to "finger-pointing" and abandoned projects.
- Funding Gaps: Unlike drinking water or wastewater, stormwater lacks consistent, regulated cost-recovery pathways.
- The "Late Response" Issue: Stormwater is often considered too late in the urban planning process, reducing design flexibility and driving up developer costs.
- Social Inequity: Poor stormwater management often hits lower socio-economic areas hardest, leading to uninsurable properties and higher health risks from heat and dampness.
Five Key Recommendations for Reform
Stormwater Australia has proposed five high-impact reforms to be implemented over the next three years:
- Define it as Core Infrastructure: Explicitly include stormwater as a defined urban water service in the National Water Initiative (NWI) refresh.
- Single Point of Accountability: Require jurisdictions to nominate a single accountable entity for stormwater outcomes by 2027.
- Early Planning: Make Integrated Water Management (IWM) a mandatory consideration at the very beginning of the precinct planning stage.
- Sustainable Funding: Establish standing cost-recovery mechanisms, such as stormwater service charges, to align "who pays" with "who benefits".
- National Consistency: Provide stable national support for programs like SQIDEP (Stormwater Quality Improvement Device Evaluation Protocol) to ensure the technology we put in the ground actually works and is maintainable.
Moving Beyond "Just a Drain"
Stormwater is central to flood mitigation, urban cooling, and water security. By treating it with the same standing as drinking water and wastewater, we can unlock multipurpose solutions that protect our environment and meet international obligations like the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The National Water Reform 2026 is our chance to stop treating stormwater as an externality and start treating it as an essential service.
Read the full submission:www.stormwateraustralia.com.au
