With 72% of Perth’s drinking water being used by households and around 40% of this being used outdoors, how we design and manage our homes and gardens can make a big impact on water savings.
Josh’s House cleverly combines the use of alternative water sources, such as rainwater, greywater and groundwater with leading edge efficiency practices to reduce demand on precious drinking water. All up the home uses 10% of the typical Perth household mains water consumption, while maintaining a beautiful, productive and shady garden.
These outcomes demonstrate how Josh’s House is an exemplar of water sensitive urban design at the residential housing scale and the project is now the subject of a Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRC WSC) Case Study.
The CRC WSC researches interdisciplinary responses to water problems, synthesises diverse research outputs into practical solutions, and influences policy, regulation, and practice to promote adoption. Established in 2012, its purpose is to help change the way we design, build and manage our cities and towns by valuing the contribution water makes to economic development and growth, our quality of life, and the ecosystems of which cities are a part.
The CRCWSC has developed case studies to help build a body of evidence that can support and encourage the adoption of research outcomes. These detailed case studies capture and communicate the lessons learned from the early adoption of research knowledge in real-life projects.
These have been developed in collaboration with project stakeholders to identify the key drivers and innovations which led to the discovery of water sensitive cities outcomes, and to highlight the challenges faced during the process.