Castlemaine Integrated Water Management Plan Cost Benefit Analysis

Spiire/Mount Alexander Shire Council

Geografia assisted engineering firm Spiire in their work for Mount Alexander Shire on an Integrated Water Management Plan (IWMP). Castlemaine is experiencing population growth, but in a landscape of increasing water security. The IWMP had the potential to address the problem of water supply by, amongst other things, making more efficient use of stormwater.

We were commissioned to carry out a cost benefit analysis of the Plan and determine whether it stacked up. We started with close to 40 potential impacts (economic, social and environmental) and filtered this down to about 15 or so measurable costs and benefits. We found that, given the growing risk of water security due to climate change, the IWMP did stack up, with a benefit cost ratio of greater than 1.