MSDI Water
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MSDI Water is driving industry-led research, partnerships and innovation in water systems, water sensitive transformations, planetary health, community empowerment and circular economy. The research group is influencing the global and local SDG agenda by building industry, government and community capacity. And they’re impacting policy and practice through large scale transdisciplinary research and research translation, while also building a global understanding of water system transformations.
Citarum Living Lab
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The Citarum Program is using Monash’s deep expertise and capabilities in water-sensitive solutions to address pollution in the Citarum River in West Java, Indonesia. Monash University and Universitas Indonesia are partnering with the Indonesian Government, communities, local NGOs, and the global research community to develop innovations that deliver improved water and waste services, and revitalise the community, economy and environment. By co-designing new infrastructure, behaviour programs, business models and institutions, our aim is to help communities move away from dumping or discharging waste into the environment, and shift towards circular solutions that recycle, remanufacture and reuse waste.
In 2021 the Victorian Government awarded the Program a grant to establish a ‘living lab’ to address pollution in the river. The grant is enabling the Program to establish an international consortium to use the living lab as a platform to translate research into real-world impact. The living lab in the Citarum basin is a place-based initiative, where we will collaborate with our partners and local villages to co-design an integrated urban model that addresses river contamination caused by lack of waste and sanitation infrastructure. The aim is to co-create waste and water solutions that incentivise new behaviours and practices, that act to restore and protect the river, and improve the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable riverine communities.
Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) Program
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The Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) program is utilising water sensitive technology innovation to transform quality of life across urban informal settlements in Indonesia and Fiji. Working with communities, governments, local leaders and partner institutions, RISE is co-designing location-specific solutions that integrate green infrastructure to strengthen the whole-of-life water and sanitation cycle.
Despite the ongoing challenges of Covid and natural disasters, in 2021 the RISE team was able to keep program momentum going to ensure on-the ground-implementation in 2022, as well as deliver a new training program utilising cutting-edge equipment for molecular analysis for Fijian and Indonesian RISE scientists, gain ISO9001 for its laboratories in Fiji and Indonesia, and produce a report series on water-sensitive informal settlement upgrading with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Indonesia.
Monash welcomes Water Sensitive Cities Australia
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In June 2021, following nine years of demonstrating new ways to design and deliver urban water services work in practice, the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) returned to Monash as Water Sensitive Cities Australia (WSC Australia). As part of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute'sWater program, WSC Australia is building on the immense legacy of the CRCWSC by mainstreaming the practices, policies and tools that support water sensitive cities.
In 2021, this included further development of the software and training framework for the Water Sensitive Cities Index, a benchmarking tool for mapping a city’s current urban water management performance, to enable it to reach a wider global audience and to spread its impact.