E2Designlab lead a collaborative team in the preparation of a Total Water Cycle Management Plan for rehabilitation of the Black Snake Creek catchment in South East Queensland. The focus of the plan was to identify projects, partnerships and funding mechanisms to sustain a long-term program of riparian and mid-slope vegetation restoration to address salinity, water quality and flooding issues in the catchment.
Black Snake Creek is a rural catchment discharging to the mid-Brisbane River immediately upstream of Mt Crosby Weir – the offtake point for the main drinking water supply to the cities of Brisbane and Ipswich. The catchment’s position and the risk it poses to downstream water users provided the business case for a participatory planning process focused on developing targeted investments plans to address the critical water cycle issues in the catchment.
The project is an example of innovative investment planning where the catchment biophysical issues were connected to affected local and regional stakeholders thereby making the case for cooperative investment responses to generate multiple benefits at both a local and regional scale.
Water Sensitive City Outcomes:
- waterway restoration
- partnership approach
- innovative investment planning