12:00a.m. 20th May 2008

| By Bill Hoffman

Councillor Debbie Blumel with Sustainable Urban Development and Technology's Justin Holbrook both say houses are a great source of catching water. Photo: Cade Mooney/174759

A Sunshine Coast project which received $4.6 million in the federal budget may see new subdivisions in high rainfall areas become the dams of the future.

The funding announced on Tuesday will develop technology to allow rainwater harvested from the roofs of the planned 1300-home Coolum Ridges estate to be fed back into the Sunshine Coast regional council drinking water reticulation system.

The concept of the urban dam was developed by Justin Holbrook of Sunshine Coast company Sustainable Urban Development and Technology, who said this week the Coolum project would demonstrate a smarter alternative to the big pipe Brisbane water solutions now being put in place.

“Most urban development is on the coast where most areas of high rainfall are,’’ he said.

While he concedes some areas of Queensland need big infrastructure solutions that was not the case in areas of high rainfall.

“It’s designed as climate change adaptive urban development,’’ he said of Coolum Ridges which will also recycle treated waste water for re-use in toilets and irrigation.

“This is leading edge stuff that puts the Coast on the map for sustainable technology.”

Water collected from roofs will be piped to centralised tanks where it will be treated and disinfected before being fed into the council system.

Waste water will be treated and returned to homes via separate pipes for re-use in toilets and gardens. It is estimated the estate will be 75 per cent self sufficient in its water needs.

Sunshine Coast councillor Debbie Blumel, who pushed the funding application to Kevin Rudd while she was running for a federal seat at the last election, agrees.

Ms Blumel said the project would demonstrate what could be done.

“I’d like to see it given every opportunity to become the standard for new development,’’ she said.

“This is a pilot project to learn from and which could be replicated in other areas of similar rainfall.’’

Describing the state government’s Traveston Dam proposal as “small box thinking” Ms Blumel said climate change was now a mainstream issue that needed to be addressed.

She said the federal government’s support showed its willingness to address climate change at a local level.

“The community has already shown a willingness to cut water use and to use it more wisely.

“This technology will enable us to do that at a local level,’’ Ms Blumel said.

The project, which will be underwritten by the developer FKP, still requires the backing of the Sunshine Coast Council and the state government.