Martin Anda

This research examined the organisational capacity of Indigenous Community Housing Organisations (ICHOs). It found that remote location, inadequate governance procedures and lack of economies of scale undermine the organisational performance of Indigenous community housing organisations. The study drew on data from the 2006 Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Survey, telephone interviews with 69 ICHOs and an in depth qualitative evaluation of 22 ICHOs. It established that the ICHO sector is heterogeneous, and organisations vary by location, size, and whether they provide non housing services. The legislation of the jurisdiction in which they are located and the community history also has affects on the form of the organisation. The study concluded that the ICHOs performing best were: managing more dwellings (10% of those surveyed manage stock of more than 100 dwellings); located in urban or large regional centres; managing housing in more than one settlement type; and specialising in housing management rather than providing multiple services. Building the capacity of ICHOs requires a focus on financial management, governance structures and decision making skills. One off injections of funds will not resolve these issues. - See more at: http://www.ahuri.edu.au/publications/projects/p80316#sthash.afepCgBH.dpuf

Perth, Western Australia’s largest city is under increasing pressure to implement a more sustainable means of water supply and use. The coastal city is expanding rapidly in both population and geographical size (EPA, 2005), while annual rainfall is variable and gradually decreasing (WC, 2005). On top of the supply issues Perth is continuing to implement a centralised approach to wastewater sanitation, which combines many wastewater streams before treatment and disposal to ocean outfall (EPA, 2005). This creates an open cycle system that has many sustainability issues including inefficient use of potable water supplies, loss of freshwater resources and nutrients, pollution of the receiving water bodies, as well as the need for high energy infrastructure (Ho and Anda, 2004). In response to Perth’s water supply concerns the Western Australian Government implemented a State Water Strategy in February 2003. Part of this strategy was to create a Premiers Water Foundation to support research and development projects that investigate water conservation and reuse. A project titled “Demonstration of Decentralised Wastewater Recycling in Urban Villages” was funded by the foundation and aims to achieve a number of demonstration projects and research studies. This technical report is the second of three reports within Premiers Water Foundation project and is focused on technical requirements associated with decentralised wastewater recycling. The aim of the research study is to investigate the technical requirements and technologies (technical elements) associated with the successful implementation of an urban village wastewater recycling system within the PMR, for which a model can be formulated to create reliable management systems and improved protection of public health and the environment.

In the wake of a major tourism development proposal being refused for the Coral Coast region of Western Australia there is again a focus on developing strategies for more sustainable facilities that support ‘low-impact nature-based tourism’. The Environmental Technology Centre at Murdoch University, together with the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Visual Arts at The University of Western Australia, completed a study for the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) to develop the Best Practice Model for Sustainable Tourism Facilities in Remote Areas. There are currently numerous environmentally sustainable guidelines, accreditation schemes and assessment systems in operation throughout the world and in Australia. The majority of these relate to the niche eco-tourism market and include the Draft International Ecotourism Standard and NEAP (Nature and Ecotourism Accreditation Program). There is also a clear and generally accepted industry understanding of what constitutes the principles and standards of sustainable tourism. Yet there is industry concern about the difficulty and cost of compliance and gaining accreditation to be considered as sustainable. This project developed a holistic and independently verifiable ‘best practice’ assessment system that is both user friendly for operators and also sets an aspirational and creative cross-cultural bar across the full range of sustainability criteria for low-impact, nature-based facilities. The project involved visits to a number of low-impact facilities throughout Australia with the intention of assessing the implementation of guiding principles and to apply the assessment criteria to such facilities. The challenges that face implementation of such a model include economic viability for industry, acceptance by Local Government Authorities, and the appropriate mechanisms to assess and license such developments in nature conservation reserves by State Government agencies.

Wastewater is often considered to be a source of public health problem and to be disposed of rather than considered as a resource. The choice of treatment system is usually governed by disposal strategy rather than reuse options. Domestic sewage generally consists of wastewater produced from the toilet, kitchen sink, bath, shower, washbasin and laundry. Toilet waste, which makes up 25 to 30 percent of the flow, is referred to as black water, while the rest of the wastewater is referred to as greywater. The blackwater contains the major portion of biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, bacteria and nutrients. So if the black water is treated separately then the treatment of greywater alone becomes easier and less complicated. Greywater reuse is widely supported by the community in Australia and promoted by researchers. However regulatory authorities have not given permission for greywater reuse. This paper illustrates a few case studies of greywater reuse trials following treatment of the greywater. The reasons for greywater reuse to be permitted by the regulatory authorities are articulated. In the future greywater reuse should be encouraged, and excess payment may be imposed if the greywater is to be treated by a municipality. This paper discusses the different treatment processes being developed to treat greywater successfully. Development of these methods and successful completion of the trials are necessary to develop public confidence to encourage greywater reuse. Present status of the methods and practices with direction for possible future developments are discussed in the paper.