New Frontiers for Stormwater: Into the Next Decade

On behalf of Stormwater Australia and the Conference Working Group, we invite you to join us at STORMWATER 2021, the 6th National Conference on Urban Water Management convened by Stormwater Australia, to be held from Wednesday, 14th to Friday, 6th April 2021 at the Crown Promenade Melbourne, VIC. 

With over 300 delegates anticipated, it will be the one stop shop for industry professionals looking to keep abreast of contemporary practice, share ideas with their peers and make new contacts that can be invaluable in their everyday work. 

The 2021 Conference theme is: New Frontiers for Stormwater – Into The Next Decade. 

We face profound challenges to manage our co-dependent urban and rural areas into the next decade. Population growth and climate change is driving rapid changes to the natural and human environment including declining waterway health and increasing flood risks. These challenges involve behaviours, policy settings and society expectations in linked economic, social and environmental systems. A systems approach is needed to transform our science, governance, practice, policy and culture to resolve these continually evolving problems and understand the trade-offs. How can we explain these complex challenges to our colleagues and instigate change within society? 

Does increased urban density provide sustainable outcomes or result in declining liveability? Our knowledge, experience and culture are also rapidly evolving into the next decade. Perhaps these evolving opportunities will meet to challenges of the next decade and transform our urban and rural areas. How will this happen? The evolution of systems thinking, recognition of circular economies and the connectivity of scales, increased diversity, better connected networks of people, digital twins and legacy knowledge from our first peoples are the new frontiers. This might influence local actions to deliver global benefits to people and ecosystems.

As with previous years, we will be holding our National Excellence Awards at the Conference Dinner, and will be rounding the event program with a number of social and networking events. 

We look forward to working together with all of you "into the next decade". See you in Melbourne in April 2021!