Exploring links between ownership, governance and condition of stormwater quality improvement devices

Local government uses the development approval process to place responsibility for stormwater treatment with private landholders through the installation of stormwater quality improvement devices on their land. This source control strategy can complement publicly owned and managed centralized solutions to improve urban water quality outcomes. The maintenance of decentralized solutions for waterway health is compromised by the motivation of individuals whose professed value of cleaner waterways is not evident in their individual lot-based actions. This exploratory research makes four policy and governance observations: waterway policy should consider property scale and ownership type when allocating responsibility for stormwater treatment; devices need to be integrated within the landscape and be publicly visible; education and regulation are advised in order to better support devices placed in private ownership; and policy will be more likely to achieve cleaner waterways if it aligns the motivations of waterway scientists, maintenance actors and property owners.