Paper short abstract:

This paper examines values, meanings and practices associated with ‘ownership’ and management of storm water and implications for ‘low impact’ approaches to urban environmental management.

Paper long abstract:

Water is often regarded as a common good. Anthropologists have undertaken valuable analysis of values and meanings that shape contestations over water, with a focus on water supply. Conventional urban environmental management differentiates '3 waters' (potable, waste and storm) based on models of infrastructure provision. Storm water, that is, surface water run-off, is generally considered a 'problem' to be managed rather than a resource. No-one claims ownership of storm water. Local governments manage storm water against risk of flooding and contamination of waterways. Urban residents pay for storm water (and potable and waste) services via rates and have limited engagement with water source and destination issues.

This paper investigates management and control of storm water, drawing on ethnographic research undertaken as part of the Low Impact Urban Design and Development (LIUDD) research programme. LIUDD employs natural systems and new low-impact technologies to manage storm water. Low impact approaches potentially transform storm water into a resource rather than a problem and shift responsibility from the expert domain of 'hard' engineering to a broader range of stakeholders. While council planners support low impact approaches, asset managers are often resist to devolving responsibility for storm water into more localised (and privatised) forms of management. They are concerned, for example, that while on-site devices (rain gardens, rain tanks, permeable paving, vegetated areas) can adequately treat run-off, efficacy is reliant on owners installing, maintaining and retaining the devices over time. This paper explores storm water issues with reference to anthropological theories of ownership and property.